Thanks to incoming ICUFR Director Peter Sotheran, with the assistance of our Secretary Sally Platt, for instituting a survey of past users and "lurkers" on the ICUFR Forums. This has given your Board some good insight into what folks like and don't like about the Forums as they are now. It has also "re-activated" some members on both the Forums and the Taranto lists.

If you haven't participated in either or both, I encourage you to give them a try. Don't worry about being a "newbie", you will be warmly welcomed.

The tentative schedule for this year's ICUFR Conference in Ithaca, New York is now available on both the ICUFR website at http://www.icufr.org/info/conf06.html and on the Forums at http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=363 .

Take a look and then decide to come join us for some fun, fellowship and new knowledge.

Dave Flinn

PDG David G Flinn

Changes & Upgrades:

This month the focus of most of the newsletter is on ICUFR itself and what we offer to you, our members. First, a couple questions:

1. What is the Value of the Rotary Fellowships? "Rotary began out of a fellowship concept. Service came afterward--- as a natural outgrowth. Fellowship is the glue that holds Rotary together." -Hugh Archer, President Rotary International 1989-90, Director of ICUFR Approximately 1992-2994

2.What is the Value of the ICUFR Fellowship? PDG Gordon Hankin says: "as I was visiting clubs throughout my district I promoted the "Fellowships" and admitted that had it not been for the ICUFR I never would have stayed with Rotary. That afternoon when I walked into the Doubletree in Chicago and met a whole new "family" was a changing point in my life and eventually that of my district."

3. ICUFR Editor Carl P Cardey says: Why don't more of our ICUFR Members take advantage of our means of Communication with each other? This is the primary purpose of the Fellowship and we are hoping to encourage many more of you to take part. We took a quick survey recently and the reasons for lack of use that were mentioned most often were: Too many messages that look like people are close friends and we are afraid to interrupt or barge in; there are too many topics and the Forum looks too busy; finding obsolete messages scares some folks away; there aren't enough messages and looks like it isn't used that much. So you can see that there isn't any single reason, other than Thread Drift. We DO recognize that too often in our exuberance to reply, the thread topics do drift away from what the subject line is about, and promise to try and moderate them better. The Rotary list is ONLY for serious Rotary topics. The RotaChat list is for Friends and Fun. The RIBI list is for the members who live in the British Isles districts. For most members it's probably just a fear or reluctance to get involved with those who look like they are close friends. YES, we are close friends, and we ENCOURAGE YOU to just JUMP IN anywhere, even/especially in the middle of an ongoing topic. We LOVE it, and LOVE to get new members. So in the words of a great Southern Lady, ICUFR Secretary Sally Platt, Y'all Come. We developed long ago an informal name; the Hugging Fellowship because we are so friendly. We have an unlimited amout of either real or virtual Hugs so Y'all Come.

4. From a "Newbie"

"I was a lurker for a long time, reading and enjoying all the posts. I didn't have the faintest idea of what most of them were about, but envied the great fellowship that was shared. A few days ago, some very kind guys nudged me into participating. It is an absolute blast and I haven't had so much fun in a long time, talking to some of the kindest and friendliest people you could meet in a day's march."

"I hope this encourages you." Norm Winterbottom

What do we offer you?

ICUFR has four methods for communication and disseminating messages and information of use to our member Rotarian/Rotaractor/Inner Wheel/Family members. This month we focus on the Taranto Electronic Mail Lists, the Forum, and the monthly newsletter. Next Month we will focus on the Website.

For ease of communicating with other members we have:

1. The Taranto Electronic Mail Lists

Irwin Taranto, our Treasurer, supports our Internet Mail List with his own secure server. A Mail List is simply a way to send emails back and forth between members in a secure site that no one can access unless they are approved by Irwin or the other List Owners. The emails can come to you individually, or in a Digest once a day. Best for Slow Dial-Up. Full details are below.

2. Forum

The Forum functions more like an old bulletin board/Compuserve where the messages/topics are kept in a distinct Folder, and once you enter you can scroll up or down and see all the messages that have been written in that Folder. On forums one doesn't have to copy and paste text, and/or have to put up with endless repeats due to "Forwarding" over and over again. Best for Broadband

Focus on the Taranto Mail Lists

Electronic mailing lists are a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. Software is installed on a server (Thanks to Irwin Taranto) which processes incoming email messages, and, depending on their content, either acts on them internally or distributes the message to all users subscribed to the mailing list.…… Today, mailing lists are most often used for collaboration on various projects and as a way of distributing current news and other such information… " "Sometimes these take the form of what is termed a "discussion list": a subscriber uses the mailing list to send messages to all the other subscribers, who may answer in similar fashion. Thus actual discussion and information exchanges can happen. Mailing lists of this type are usually topic-oriented (…Rotary, Rotachat, RIBI), even if the topic can range from extremely narrow to "whatever you think could interest us". In this they are similar to Usenet newsgroups, and share the same aversion to off-topic messages. The term discussion group encompasses both these types of lists and newsgroups." (Thanks to Answers.com) For those with slow dial-up modems, or who have to pay high phone costs per minute, You should use the lists and request from Irwin to be on "Digest" mode. That way you can get them once a day, all at one time, go offline to read and reply, and then quickly upload your messages when you are ready. Carl P Cardey, ICUFR Editor

Focus on the ICUFR Forum

"An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the facility. Web-based forums, which date from around 1995, perform a similar function as the dial-up bulletin boards and Internet newsgroups that were numerous in the 1980s and 1990s. A sense of virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users. Technology, computer games, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a huge number of different topics. (i.e. ICUFR)

Internet forums are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion boards, discussion forums, discussion groups, bulletin boards ….. or simply forums. " (Thanks to Answer.com)

Sally Says: did you know that …

• Our very own Carl Cardey was once a race car driver?
• "Digger" Doug Grierson has a not-so-secret passion for Krispy Kreme donuts?
• ICUFR Director Stella Russell is president of a Rotary club you can visit any day or hour you wish without leaving home?

And finally, did you know that the ICUFR has a very special resource that's not available anywhere else in the Rotary world? Well, now you do. And this resource is special because it's all ours! Others have tried to imitate, but no one can duplicate the wonderful spirit of friendship and exchange of Rotary information that takes place every day on our Forum.

Getting to this place is easy. Simply click on this link http://www2.icufr.org and you're there. If you're not already a Forum member, you'll be asked to create a user name and password. Then begin browsing the sections and add your comments to ongoing discussions or create a new one of your own.

For openers, here are a few "must see" discussions:

1.How is your district addressing the issue of abuse and harassment protection: http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=398

2.Thinking of buying a digital camera? You won't want to miss this one: http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=132

3.Here's an ICUFR legend - one of the funniest stories you'll read anywhere, and it's all true! http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=171

4.A new Rotarian tackles International Service and emerges a winner: http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=320

5.Hands-on projects - what does your club do?
http://www2.icufr.org/viewtopic.php?t=243

So … no more excuses! This Forum is YOURS! All you have to do is follow the links above to get connected to the online world of Rotary. What are you waiting for?

Sally Platt

Sally Platt PP
ICUFR Secretary

ICUFR Newsletter

We are always in need of articles of interest that can be included in the email newsletter which is sent to our members monthly. (The newsletter is also posted and archived on the ICUFR website, along with any photos, that can't be sent in the text-only email version)

A Few Format Requests: Please Do NOT send articles in PDF format. Send the original document in *.Doc or plain text format, and images/photos as attachments. I have broadband and can accept at least 10MB at a time.

Photographs always make an article more interesting and are encouraged. Our Graphics editor asks that you follow these basic rules. He requests that a statement from you that images are Original, NOT cropped, NOT optimized and NOT adjusted in any way. Sending a reduced size leaves no room for any action by us to make changes to suit the web page. Image management is a skill.

Also images 'embedded' in a document bloat the document. Text only, even a Word document, and separate images are the target.

Website is under re-construction Thanks to Robin Chapple

We have the website for making available to our members, a large amount of information both current and archival. Although it is being rebuilt, it is open for use. The site is for the use of all our members, and your help and suggestions are always welcome.

Web Helpers needed:

Once you see how big it is, you will see that it is far too difficult for one person to keep it current and updated. We are asking for different members to take on a job of "Web Helper". Each Helper would take the job of watching one or two folders or pages on the website, to watch for news or items that could be added, or to be sure they are not getting out dated.

How about a Link Helper to review, update, add, and to be sure that there are no broken web address (URL) links.

If you are willing, please send an email to Carl P Cardey, Editor with your requested folders/subjects

WARNING: Phishing scams are on the rise

Online phishing scams are continuing to trick people into giving them important financial and personal information. A new report from Sophos stats that 58% of computer users receive at least one phishing email everyday, while 22% receive more than five a day.

More Information: Recent figures from the Anti-Phishing Group show that phishing attacks are continuing to soar in number, with 15,244 phishing emails in December 2005, up from 8,829 in 2004. Both Sophos and the Anti-Phishing Group warn that attacks are becoming more elaborate and harder to spot. One recent phishing attack posed as notification of a refund from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The 'tax refund phish' claimed to be the result of a security configuration error on the real IRS website, with phishers redirecting visitors to a bogus address.

What To Do:

Phishing is a very easy threat to avoid. Read over the points below to learn how to not become the next phishing victim:

• Do not open emails from anyone you don't know or are not expecting an email from.
• Disregard any emails coming from websites or companies that you have no association with.
• If you receive an email asking you to log into an account by clicking on a provided link, do not do it. ALWAYS type the link to the website address manually.
• If someone is asking you to verify account or personal information through an email, do not do it. Ask for a phone number to call in to and then verify the number before calling.
• If you receive a pop-up, always click on the 'X' in the very top right corner of the pop-up to close it.
• Do not click on any buttons or anything inside the pop-up window.

(Thanks to Invisus.com My Computer Security company)

More phishing facts here

Technical Tip

Probably like many of you I have accumulated quite a number of music tracks, lectures and stories on audio cassette tapes. I mainly use these when I am driving. Recently I bought a new Subaru and high tech as it was, no cassette player only radio and cd. I assumed it would be easy to use windows media player to convert but surprise, surprise it will only record line-in for 60 seconds.

Asking for help on the Taranto list was not much use.

With a bit of help from my son I accessed a website named "tucows.com" which has an amazing amount of freeware and shareware. I found and downloaded a freeware program called "Audiograbber". It is amazing; it will accept any line-in data and convert it to a wav file or mp3. It will also do timed recordings, so if I go out and wish to tape my favourite radio serial it is done. I can then either listen to it on the computer with speakers or cut a cd.

I hope this helps some of you.

Ralph Roseman

Ralph Roseman

New RI Youth Activities Regulations

In November 2004, the RI Board adopted sexual abuse and harassment prevention guidelines designed to protect youth participating in Rotary club and district programs.

These guidelines have become part of the certification process for clubs and districts that participate in Rotary Youth Exchange. As well, some districts now are adopting abuse and harassment prevention guidelines for all their programs involving youth and other vulnerable persons.

How is your club/district addressing this issue? If your club/district hasn't done so already, are you planning to put abuse and harassment guidelines and policies into place?

Inquiring minds want to know. <G>

Sally Platt

Sally Platt
ICUFR Secretary

The April edition will focus on the new Website.

Remember, this is your newsletter. The more you send me, the better it will be. Carl P Cardey, Editor ccardey@verizon.net