There is an option on your page here, (click on your name) to send you an email.

I noticed you did not have the send me a email notation. That is about the only way, I think, someone could get it thru here. If you are concerned, you might change your name and not post as much etc. If the email is a concern to you, print it out and talk to the local law enforcement. Do not take any chances. It is fairly easy to get a person's Email. If I Email any one on any of the forums, I identify who, where etc in the heading. \
Marie

I clicked on your (my page) part, besides your name.

There isn't an email option.

If you haven't changed that, since your post here, then I would have to think, someone has your address.

Did you participate in a Christmas Card exchange?

Moni

amy-
I can't explain how the person got your email if you didn't make it available here, but don't overreact. I have been on here for 10 years and it is possible to contact me by email, and I get a message from various people every couple of months, and never have had a problem. Besides, when email comes through GardenWeb to me, the sender does not have my email address...GardenWeb does and its masked from the sender unless I choose to respond.

If what you got is a totally innocent email, I doubt there is anything to worry about. I think the explanation may have to do with some prior communication you had with someone here. What is the nature of the email you got?

Sorry for that wrong info ...I should have looked to see if you had an email link...I thought everyone did.

I have seen in some cases if your user name here happens to be the same as the name portion of your email address it can be guessed at. Mine is not the same so would not work for me but I have seen several in various forums that use the same exact name for both their email and their user name at the forum.

You could check with GW using the contact us link at the bottom of the page if you thought you needed to.

I have a screener email address (junkmailsystems@yahoo.ca) that I give when I have some question regarding the validity of the location.

I suggest that you set up such an email address, then sign in here with another username, using that, if you're worried.

I've been around here for a long time and have had next to no problem with anyone having contacted me that I felt might have been gleaned from Gardenweb.

If you click on my username, you'll find that I've enabled the participants here to send private emails to me ... and, as someone has said, the writer doesn't get to know your address, unless you choose to answer their message directly.

And if you don't want them to get your address then, forward their message to your screener address, then compose a message and send it from there.

You might call it - a second mail box, with a sign on it saying, "junk mail").

ole joyfuelled (not my real name)

That is weird, amy, and I too would be concerned.

Have you ever given out your name or enough info that someone could have tracked you and searched for your email?

Or, like someone suggested... maybe your email is close to your screen name and someone guessed it?

IDK, if you figure it out, please let us know.

Possible you could ask the person who emailed you (don't email them back just ask on the site/forum) how they got it.

Well now I'm pretty spooked, since he could not have gotten the address here.

I think I will probably shut down my account here....

It was basically a thank-you note for recommendations I gave him. I don't see it as threatening. However, I'm uneasy with the whole thing. I did not respond to his email and will probably remove myself from the forum.

Thanks for the feedback all.

So it's a he! That would kinda narrow it down for the KT.

Amy, why don't you ask him how he got it? Could you have given it out by any chance? I hope you don't leave!

Quick question unrelated that I should ask in case you do decide to leave: Do you give fiddle lessons in your area? I am thinking about taking some and you live near me, I believe. If so, would you mind emailing me through my page? Thank you!

It was basically a thank-you note for recommendations I gave him. I don't see it as threatening. However, I'm uneasy with the whole thing. I did not respond to his email and will probably remove myself from the forum.
,,,,,,,,,,,,
On what forum did you give him this information A Garden Web forum?

Amy, was he the original poster?

If so, is it possible he requested to have responses e-mailed to him? In which case I think he can reply back to the e-mail.

I don't believe Gardenweb transmits your personal e-mail addy. I think they act as an intermediary - they send an e-mail to the poster, the poster replies back to gardenweb and gardenweb passes the reply back to you.

I think?

There are all kinds of People Search links on the net I use them all the time for a fee you can get email info perhaps he used that to get your email .
do a google on People search

I know you can get emails all over but not sure how he would have gotten it with just a user name like amyfiddler that I don't use anywhere else....and besides that, to go to ANY effort just to send an email, I just don't know. Leaves me a bit un easy I guess - but hey that's the risk of living online. Just goes to prove, don't write anything that will keep you from running for president of the United States! LOL. Sorry, I gotta bail. This is a fun site, maybe I'll come back reincarnated. I'll let you know if I do, and I won't go back to that forum.

Oh and no, sorry! I don't teach private lessons. I used to but I found it much easier to just thrust my head directly into the studio wall. :P I have seen several people offering private lessons through craigslist though....Also local music stores will often have contacts. I hope that helps.

Ya know...I had someone email me a while back and didn't think much of it, it was a nice email....BUUUUT, I have my setting to where people can't email me...OR at least I thought I did? HUUUUM???????????? Now I'm wondering how?

Just seen this post. Amy, why not ask Garden Web @ the "contact us". They should be able to answer any question/concerns you may have.

Mary

dont leave! I have emailed many people here, many many have my home address and phone number. There has never been a problem, You said you don't feel threatened. maybe you should change your email address?

I wouldn't get freaked out about it. You play music and I assume you may have other (musician) sites where you may be found with an email addy or link handy. it's really not that hard to get a person's email addy on the net these days.

A person only needs to know a little bit about you to map the trail.

It was a nice email so why fret over it?

amy-
Take a deep breath and relax about this. I'm not trying to make fun of you, but this is a non-issue. I get emails all the time from many sources, including multiple spam messages daily. If you freak out over getting what sounds to me like an innocent -- in fact, cordial -- email, and cancel your GardenWeb account, you might as well just give up entirely on the Internet because it won't be the last time something inexplicable like this occurs. What bad thing do you think exactly is going to happen?

I'm with Kudzu9 on this one...

I wouldn't think twice about it, but its your email, your comfort zone that is important.

Im not one to react dramatically to stuff. So i will not act on any spook reaction I'm having.
Instead i sent a note to the web masters and if there was any info gotten from here I will have that restricted.
it seems a bit boundary crossing to me assuming he went to any effort to search my email when everything he wrote could have been expressed on the forum....but i will not lose sleep on it. now if i receive a thank you bouquet tomorrow you guys will be hearing from me! lol

Do you think that maybe the person that sent you an email could be like a Moderator or an Administrator for the Garden Web? That could explain how they got your email addy. If you are uneasy, I'd just say to be sure and change your password for here and your email. I suddenly started sending out spam from my main email account and found out I'd been hacked and they suggested to change your password to something very difficult.

Just ask him cause I want to know too.

I reiterate:

Get yourself a new screener email address, from any of the free providers.

Register with a different username here, using that new email address as the basic one with them.

I believe that you can even offer on your profile page to have people send you emails, as Gardenweb sends them to you, but the original writer doesn't get your address ... which is the way that it works also if some original poster asks to have all of the replies to his/her post forwarded to her/him.

Use that screener address also whenever you are asked for an email address from an entity about which you may have any question.

For example, as requested here today, when I went to vote on the "Maxwell House" offer of a subsidy for a non-profit to help with their program, I was asked for my email address ... but I think that was mainly when I asked to send a message to the company about a different matter. I gave my screener address ... as I'm not enthused about having clutter coming from Maxwell House/Kraft to my main address(es).

ole cynical, frugal ... occasionally joyful

It's difficult, if not impossible, to delete a presence online. Even if you delete your user name, there's still going to be cached ghosts of your posts available via Google, and every post has every contributor's IP address for anyone to see.

This kinda goes back to the online privacy thread a few weeks back. You either have to just deal with the lack of privacy once you go online or don't log on, ever. Because every single action is being tracked and linked back to your online identity in some form.

If you enjoy the forum, I wouldn't leave over a friendly email. You can live your life wondering what if's or being paranoid that someone is stalking you or you can take reasonable precautions and continue to enjoy your interests. Ultimately it's your decision of course but I think you're overreacting and I would at least give yourself a couple of days before making that decision. I'd also ask him where he got your email because it could be something completely innocent that maybe you forgot about. Maybe you emailed someone else at some point and they passed on your email address. It could be anything but it's unlikely that it's malicious or sneaky in nature, especially if it was a thank you email.

Oh I hate to see this...I'm new here and you're scaring me off. :) It would make me somewhat uncomfortable too. I've never had that happen on any forum I've ever been on. Maybe it was just a one time glitch.

Can you simply ask him how he got your email address? Why not just do that? And please help me understand the fear-factor. I'm seriously wondering - not trying to be snarky.

UPDATE**********

As per a few requests, I decided to respond for the first time to the email simply to ask how contact was made. Here is the cut and pasted reply:

"I went to message you through the forum and it said that you had chosen NOT to be contacted through GardenWeb. It said to email you at this address instead"

Well if I have provided that request and information to gardenweb I don't remember doing so, and I would like it removed....however, many of you here have already stated that you looked at my profile and no such info is given.

I sent a note into the webmaster but as of today have not heard back.

To clarify - anonymity is not necessarily my concern. Obviously....I'm a performer. Type in my name and my location and I'm all over the place. No big deal - it just felt rather like a boundary issue for me -

I still wonder if maybe the information was hunted for. No harm no foul here I suppose, but at any rate I am choosing at this point not to be upset about it. I do appreciate suggestions given here thus far. Joyful particularly with the detailed recommendations.

I believe that the IP address is the address of your Internet Provider (city,state,province) not your own private street/city address. Is this right?

It depends. I'm far from an expert but in my own experience I've seen an IP lookup able to find general area locations of residence (city and state) or names of companies someone works at if they post from work. In theory you can pick up someone's private address but that would take some extreme skills and a practically non-existent chance for the average person.

My point with that is that all actions are traced on some level when you go online so there's really no privacy once you start using it.