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[j9359]

I did.  Anyone else look closely at the URL in the e-mail? The first listing I was directed to:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/   <= third party site!
be6178f4fb/58c20903c4/f07b0980c6/   <= I wonder which one of these identify me ?
listingID=293344&  <= listing ID
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&  <= date stamp and version number ?
utm_content=text_293344  <= listing ID again

maybe I have too much time on my hands
john.

[epetroel]

I did.  Anyone else look closely at the URL in the e-mail? The first listing I was directed to:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/   <= third party site!
be6178f4fb/58c20903c4/f07b0980c6/   <= I wonder which one of these identify me ?
listingID=293344&  <= listing ID
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&  <= date stamp and version number ?
utm_content=text_293344  <= listing ID again

maybe I have too much time on my hands
john.

Prosper uses Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com) to send out their e-mail's like that.  What you see there is a standard Vertical Response tracking link.  I use Vertical Response to send out newsletters for several of my clients, so I'm pretty familiar with their service. 

The link there doesn't track you specifically (AFIK), but it does track clicks in general (which is why it's going to vertical response's servers).  The tracking stuff allows Prosper to log in and see how many people opened the e-mail, how many people clicked on the links, which links were clicked most frequently, etc. to gauge how effective their mailings are.

It's all pretty standard e-mail marketing stuff... no need to put on the tinfoil hat

[big-al]

I did.  Anyone else look closely at the URL in the e-mail? The first listing I was directed to:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/   <= third party site!
be6178f4fb/58c20903c4/f07b0980c6/   <= I wonder which one of these identify me ?
listingID=293344&  <= listing ID
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&  <= date stamp and version number ?
utm_content=text_293344  <= listing ID again

maybe I have too much time on my hands
john.

Prosper uses Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com) to send out their e-mail's like that.  What you see there is a standard Vertical Response tracking link.  I use Vertical Response to send out newsletters for several of my clients, so I'm pretty familiar with their service. 

The link there doesn't track you specifically (AFIK), but it does track clicks in general (which is why it's going to vertical response's servers).  The tracking stuff allows Prosper to log in and see how many people opened the e-mail, how many people clicked on the links, which links were clicked most frequently, etc. to gauge how effective their mailings are.

It's all pretty standard e-mail marketing stuff... no need to put on the tinfoil hat

If that were the case I would expect my link to be identical to j9359's, but it is different.  Here's mine:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/
be6178f4fb/9f77934d91/f07b0980c6/
listingID=293344&
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&
utm_content=photo_293344

be6178f4fb is the same, so perhaps that identifies the mailing
f07b0980c6, the last of the three numbers, is different between each link in my email but matches the link an another member's email, so that's unlikely - it probably identifies which link is clicked
9f77934d91, the middle number, is the same in all links in my email.  Hmmm.

Just because they don't give you the results of their data collection does not mean they are not collecting it. 

[Shenandoah]

Prosper uses Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com) to send out their e-mail's like that.  What you see there is a standard Vertical Response tracking link.  I use Vertical Response to send out newsletters for several of my clients, so I'm pretty familiar with their service. 

If that's the case Prosper should update their own help files.

How can I be sure that an email I've received is from Prosper?

There are two ways you can determine that an email you've received is from Prosper:

   1. The email contains your first name, last name, and Prosper screen name in the body of the email.
   2. Links within the email take you to a page that starts with http://www.prosper.com or https://www.prosper.com.

You should never sign in using your Prosper credentials on a site which does not have a URL starting with https://www.prosper.com.


http://www.prosper.com/security/email.aspx

[Staneslav]

a

[Nora_Lenderbee]

Listing withdrawn; user terminated.

Don't the folks in charge of selecting featured listings do a great job?

YGBFSM. 

[epetroel]

I did.  Anyone else look closely at the URL in the e-mail? The first listing I was directed to:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/   <= third party site!
be6178f4fb/58c20903c4/f07b0980c6/   <= I wonder which one of these identify me ?
listingID=293344&  <= listing ID
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&  <= date stamp and version number ?
utm_content=text_293344  <= listing ID again

maybe I have too much time on my hands
john.

Prosper uses Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com) to send out their e-mail's like that.  What you see there is a standard Vertical Response tracking link.  I use Vertical Response to send out newsletters for several of my clients, so I'm pretty familiar with their service. 

The link there doesn't track you specifically (AFIK), but it does track clicks in general (which is why it's going to vertical response's servers).  The tracking stuff allows Prosper to log in and see how many people opened the e-mail, how many people clicked on the links, which links were clicked most frequently, etc. to gauge how effective their mailings are.

It's all pretty standard e-mail marketing stuff... no need to put on the tinfoil hat

If that were the case I would expect my link to be identical to j9359's, but it is different.  Here's mine:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ProsperMarketplaceIn/
be6178f4fb/9f77934d91/f07b0980c6/
listingID=293344&
utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_featured_listing&
utm_source=featured_listing_20080318_V1&
utm_content=photo_293344

be6178f4fb is the same, so perhaps that identifies the mailing
f07b0980c6, the last of the three numbers, is different between each link in my email but matches the link an another member's email, so that's unlikely - it probably identifies which link is clicked
9f77934d91, the middle number, is the same in all links in my email.  Hmmm.

Just because they don't give you the results of their data collection does not mean they are not collecting it. 

Ahh, I take that back.  I just logged into my vertical response account, and it actually is possible to download a list of people who clicked on one of the links in the e-mail.  I've never used that feature before, so I wasn't even aware it was available.

So, assuming they actually cared, they could tell who opened the e-mail (if your mail client is set to automatically download pictures) and who clicked on the links.

[traveler505]

Ahh, I take that back.  I just logged into my vertical response account, and it actually is possible to download a list of people who clicked on one of the links in the e-mail.  I've never used that feature before, so I wasn't even aware it was available.

So, assuming they actually cared, they could tell who opened the e-mail (if your mail client is set to automatically download pictures) and who clicked on the links.

And then they will be able to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

[Rancidbeef]

So, assuming they actually cared, they could tell who opened the e-mail (if your mail client is set to automatically download pictures) and who clicked on the links.

Which is why you should never never never have your email client automatically render HTML.  Or at least have it not automatically follow external links like images.  Personally I've always preferred my email to be plain old text.  But then I'm old school... I used to log into a server with telnet and run "elm" to read my mail.  I tried to keep doing it until too many people were using Outlook and it insisted on sending out emails as HTML.

[112233]

mailx was email program of choice

[NPX]

But then I'm old school... I used to log into a server with telnet and run "elm" to read my mail.

I still log into a server with telnet and run "pine" to read my mail. 

It actually handles Outlook's ridiculous preference for html pretty well, but it's not so great with attachments....