Dear Source:
This is for Mr. Devine who commented on the forums hosted by the Constitutional Convention project, www.itsourfuture.vi. He is speaking on two separate issues here. From reading his original email, it is clear that he had actually put in an incorrect extension for the URL and come up with a "dot-com" instead of a "dot-vi" which is not affiliated in any way with the UVI web site. This is not an uncommon error. There are unscrupulous persons who will "squat on" or set up web sites for domains with similar sounding names and different extensions, and even misspellings, in order to redirect traffic towards whatever they choose to sell. Again, commonplace on the Internet.
This time he was able to locate questionable material within the forum. Just to clarify, it is not uncommon to host a forum on servers other than yours as the technology and maintenance may be outside the realm of experience or time constraints of the Webmaster. It is considered a "hosted solution" to me. It demonstrates no malfeasance. However, persons who "spam" message boards are like an epidemic, and whether the University hosted the board within its own domain (itsourfuture.vi) or through a provider, unless there is a "moderator" who is responsible for removing such things, the spammers are free to do what they want to do.
The coordinator should have been alerted about the spammers, so that they can do something about it. It does appear that perhaps the project needs more hands than originally anticipated; I suggest that the forum be shut down rather than become the repository of all that froth.
I am copying the coordinator at the University (Tregenza Roach) on this email just on general principle.
Anita Davis
St. Thomas
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