QSL World spam via QRZ.com e-mail adresses

Dear QRZ Team,

during february I got tons of unwanted e-mails from a new 'service' in Mexico called QSL World. I contacted them several times to stop them sending me e-mails. They replied, they get their e-mail adresses directly from the QRZ database and as long as I have my adress online, they will use it. So they send me their e-mails on and on, from 5 to 20 daily.

I checked my QRZ settings, if there is any way to hide my e-mail, but could not find anything. Maybe you can point me in the right direction.

I also thought about using a fake or trash e-mail here on QRZ, to get rid of these mails, but then my account here wouldn't be accessable for me anymore. Anyone could use these trash mails 24 hours later and take over my account.

So, is there anything I or you could do, to stop such services? And why are you even tolerating other websites building up their own service on your valuable data?

 

Hello everyone,

I’d like to take a moment to clear up some confusion. My name is Andrei, KO4ZHL, and I created QSLWorld.com with the goal of helping fellow ham operators who may not use traditional QSL cards. I want to assure you that there’s no SPAM involved, and no one is trying to sell anything here. When your contacts send you a QSO confirmation through the platform, it’s simply another way for them to confirm their contact with you. If you choose not to accept it, that’s perfectly fine—it’s not meant to be intrusive, just a communication from fellow operators. My error was not adding an instruction to the server to include a "reply-to" field in the email, which meant the emails were sent out without the ability for recipients to directly reply to the sender. This issue has since been fixed. I also created a way to filter your email address, so you will not receive communication from the platform and the operator will be advised you don't want to receive QSO confirmations using that method... Right now it is called "unsubscribe" for the sake of understanding, I know you did not subscribe for it... nor did operator who sent you a message, consider that it is coming from them... Their effort was slightly reduced, because they now could send you a confirmation with one click... is that, that bad?

To be clear, there is no data collection involved in the platform. It was always intended as an experiment. Previously, the platform sent direct emails, but that feature has been temporarily disabled. I apologize if this caused any discomfort or concern about security.

Another point of confusion seems to be related to how the platform works when users upload their ADI files. Some users uploaded large numbers of older contacts or duplicates, which led to multiple similar emails being sent. These emails might have been from the same operator but included different contacts, dates, and times. Additionally, some users uploaded faulty ADI files or files missing important information, which caused the platform to generate confirmations without verifying the content.

Again, this was all part of an experimental process. The goal has always been to learn and improve, as experimentation is at the heart of our hobby. We’re a large community, and I didn’t anticipate such a rapid response—within just three days, thousands of users were on the platform, and things escalated quickly as the emails went out.

I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.

Please don’t discredit the platform. Many large platforms, including eQSL, are for-profit companies, so let’s not be naive. My intention has always been to offer a free, not-for-profit service. And trust me, it’s expensive as hell to keep the servers running. Donations are what keep it alive. I believe there’s room for innovation, and I’m confident that this initiative doesn’t threaten the big players. Also, there’s no official way to confirm your QSO other than the traditional method of receiving a card in your mailbox. That’s something we’re planning to address soon on the platform—stay tuned!

By the way, the site is down at the moment due to too many requests at once and not enough resources to handle them. We're working on it as I speak.

Please accept my sincere apologies. Innovation can be costly and sometimes requires taking risks, but I hope you understand that my intentions are always to improve the experience for everyone.

Thank you for your understanding and support!

73,
Andrei KO4ZHL

 

Hi Jaime, thank you for your reply and all the wishes! Cheers. Andrei