Northern Rhodesians Worldwide
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Contact the GNR
Please use this form only to contact those responsible for running the GNR. All fields are required. If you would like to submit your message over a secure connection, please click here.
This form does not send you your lost or forgotten password, it does not post messages to the message board, it does not send messages to individual members, and it does not update your entry in the Names Directory. However, if you are a non-member wanting to contact a member, then please feel free to use this form to send us your initial message and we will do our best to pass it on. Please note, however, that we do not give out the email addresses of our members, either to members or non-members.
If you have any questions about contacting the GNR, please see the answers below to our frequently-asked questions.
April 23rd, 2008: The administrator is once again behind with answering email and activating new memberships, and has been since about mid-August. At this point I am planning to catch up in June. My apologies for the inconvenience.
The GNR does not use your email address for anything other than replying to your message. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact FAQs
- How long can I expect to wait for a response?
- Why have you not answered my previous email message(s)?
- Should I send my message again if I have not had a response?
- I use a challenge-response anti-spam system. Will someone from the GNR respond to the automated challenge(s) sent in response to (the) email message(s) sent to me by or through the GNR?
- I sent you a message and had a reply from you, but I've lost interest. Would it be polite to let you know?
- Will you pass on a message to a member from a non-member?
- Will you send me a member's email address?
- You forwarded a message to a member for me, but I have not had a response. Can I ask you to contact the member again? Will you urge them to respond?
- I want to contact a member who is listed as having a bad email address. Can I? Do you have any other way to contact them?
- From what domain will your response come?
- What is a "Nigerian 419 scam"?
- Why are you accusing me of sending a "Nigerian 419 scam"?
- What is an IP address?
- Why is my IP address displayed?
Q.: How long can I expect to wait for a response?
A.: The Great North Road is staffed by a team of volunteers who deal with GNR business in their spare time. Response time will vary depending on commitments in our business and personal lives. That said, most queries are usually dealt with within about two days, unless you see a highlighted message above the contact form telling you otherwise. Sometimes you will receive a response much more quickly (within minutes) and other times it could take as long as several days or more than a week. If your query requires more time that usual for a reply, we'll usually tell you that so that at least you know we have received your message and are working on a response. Above all, please remember that we are volunteers, not paid staff, and we do reply to all intelligent email messages -- and even a few that aren't.
Q.: Why have you not answered my previous email message(s)?
A.: Well, maybe we have. Simply put, we have answered every single piece of intelligible email that asks a question or makes a request (and even most that simply make a statement, such as a complaint or commendation) we have received since this site came under new management in 1999 -- with the obvious exception of messages offering us a share of millions of US dollars locked in a trunk somewhere in west Africa. It's not unusual for us to go to the trouble of researching and typing out a response to a message, sending it, and having it returned to us as undeliverable because the sender entered their email address into the contact form incorrectly. If it has been longer than ten days since you sent your message, this is the most likely reason you have not received a reply. If you are using an email programme or service that filters your incoming mail for spam (including challenge-response anti-spam systems, dealt with in a separate FAQ), you might also want to look in your spam or junk-mail folder to see if our response is in there. While we don't send out junk mail, these filters are automated and so do make mistakes occasionally. If it has been longer than ten days since you sent your message, and you have checked your spam or junk-mail folder for our response (and it isn't there), you should re-submit your message, ensuring that you carefully check that you enter your email address into the contact form correctly and that said email address does not use a challenge-response anti-spam system. If it has been less than ten days, please wait patiently for the ten-day mark.
Q.: Should I send my message again if I have not had a response?
A.: If it has been longer than ten days since you sent your message, and you have checked your spam or junk-mail folder for our response (and it isn't there), you should re-submit your message, ensuring that you carefully check that you enter your email address into the contact form correctly and that said email address does not use a challenge-response anti-spam system. If it has been less than ten days, please wait patiently for the ten-day mark. When resending your message, please do not be abusive because you didn't get a reply to your earlier message; we don't respond well to abuse, and all sorts of unpredictable things could happen.
Q.: I use a challenge-response anti-spam system. Will someone from the GNR respond to the automated challenge(s) sent in response to (the) email message(s) sent to me by or through the GNR?
A.: No. Because of privacy concerns and the automated nature of our inter-member web-based contact system, email addresses protected with challenge-response anti-spam systems are not compatible with it; their use will result in the Names Directory entry of any member using one to be deactivated until they either remove the challenge-response process, or update their entry with an address that does not use a challenge-response anti-spam system. Similarly, we will not respond to challenges even for individual messages that we send. Challenge-response anti-spam systems are a very bad idea for anything other than situations where you are required to make an email address available to the public in an unprotected form that can be "harvested" in an automated manner. Such situations include most domain registrations and perhaps business stationery, although the latter can't be collected in an automated manner. In such cases we recommend that you set up a dedicated email address for use only with a challenge-response anti-spam system, but never use that address to send email (only to receive initial contact) or for any other day-to-day use. In other cases, such as allowing people to contact you through your business or personal website, we suggest setting up a web-based contact form (such as the ones used by the GNR) that does not reveal your email address. There is no way for your email address to be "harvested" from the GNR Names Directory, so using an unprotected email address in your Directory entry is perfectly safe.
Q.: I sent you a message and had a reply from you, but I've lost interest. Would it be polite to let you know?
A.: Yes. We have lost count of the number of times we have dealt with what we have termed "drive-by email". The fact that we have come up with a name for it is testimony to how often it happens. "Drive-by email" happens when someone sends us a message, we reply, and, even though our reply is not returned to us as undeliverable, we never receive an expected response. Sometimes there are even further exchanges -- e.g., "Bob" sends us email, we reply, Bob replies, we reply, and then... nothing. Although we were expecting Bob to reply (either with more information, instructions, etc.), no reply comes. It makes us wonder what happened. Did we say something bad and Bob doesn't want to talk to us anymore? Did Bob lose interest in the issue? Did Bob not like our answer? Did Bob have an amnesia attack? Was Bob savagely murdered before he could reply? What?! We'll never know. Everyone is busy, and none of us has the time to devote to following up unanswered email. If Bob doesn't want to reply, that's his business and we move on. We do not keep a log of unanswered email or unresolved issues; there are simply not enough hours in the day and too many other immediate issues and thousands of other members to deal with. So why are we even bothering to include this in a list of FAQs then? Because occasionally "Bob" will come back to us months later with the exact same issue as if it was new issue, or perhaps he'll even remember the last issue and complain that we never dealt with the issue several months ago. Sometimes the same process will repeat itself and then Bob disappears again. This is frustrating for us and a waste of our time. So, we'd prefer not to deal with "drive-by email", thanks all the same. If you have lost interest in the issue that you brought up or you think that our response is too obtuse, confusing, unhelpful, or doesn't hold your hand enough for you, then please let us know so that we can put the issue to bed instead of wondering if you were savagely murdered before you could reply.
Q.: Will you pass on a message to a member from a non-member?
A.: Yes, certainly; we would be happy to pass on an initial message for you, after which, if the member responds, you will be able to communicate with him/her directly rather than through us. Please ensure that the person you want to contact is indeed a current member, by consulting the full GNR membership list. Please also ensure that you give us enough identifying information -- first and last name at a minimum, and preferably include the link to their Names Directory entry so that there is no doubt, as we have some members with identical first and last names. Also, please remember that if you once lived in Northern Rhodesia and/or Zambia (or currently live in Zambia) then you can register and contact the member directly.
Q.: Will you send me a member's email address?
A.: No. For privacy and security reasons, we do not send the email addresses of our members to anyone, including other members.
Q.: You forwarded a message to a member for me, but I have not had a response. Can I ask you to contact the member again? Will you urge them to respond?
A.: It is up to the person receiving the message to respond. We will resend a message once, but not more than once, and when we resend the message we will not write anything else to the member other than a brief message introducing the forwarded message. We will not "urge" the member on your behalf to respond, but in your message (which we will forward) you may certainly urge the member to respond.
Q.: I want to contact a member who is listed as having a bad email address. Can I? Do you have any other way to contact them?
A.: The email address in a member's entry is the only method we have of contacting that member. If the email address in a member's entry ceases to work and they do not update their entry, then we have no way of contacting them. Some members, against our advice, include other contact information in their entries. If the member you would like to contact has alternate contact information displayed in their entry, you are welcome to attempt to contact them that way, but that has nothing to do with the GNR. In some instances we may have other contact information for a member who is personally known to us, but this isn't usually the case if he/she is listed as having a bad email address. If it is the case, we will do our best (as we do in all cases) to pass on a message, but we make no guarantees. In such cases your best bet is to post a message on the message board.
Q.: From what domain will your response come?
A.: This is a good question for a couple of reasons: authenticity and spam filtering. Most official email from the Great North Road will come from the greatnorthroad.org domain, although it is not unusual for it also to come from the northernrhodesia.org domain. That said, if you are going to "white list" any domains or IP addresses you should add some or all (depending on your software) of the following to your white list:
- greatnorthroad.org
- northernrhodesia.org
- gnr.org.nr
- gnr.org.zm
- gnr.rhonet.org
- gnr.niner.net
- niner.net
- ninernet.com
- lowdown.co.zm
- 65.61.157.54
- 65.61.166.128
- 65.61.166.129
- 64.40.108.129
About the only time you'll see GNR email come from the niner.net domain is when Craig has forgotten to set the correct return address on his outgoing email. Email coming from Heather will often come from the lowdown.co.zm domain.
Q.: What is a "Nigerian 419 scam"?
A.: Briefly, the so-called Nigerian 419 scam is perpetrated when someone (usually alleged to be a bank employee or someone in [or formerly in] or related to someone in [or formerly in] a high level of government) sends out an email (or fax, postal letter, or smoke signal for that matter) telling you that you can share in untold millions of (usually) US dollars if you will only give the sender your banking details and send a "small" fee (an "advance fee", hence the synonymous term "advance-fee fraud") to cover the sender's expenses in getting the money to you. For more details, we suggest you read the "419 FAQ" on the 419 Eater website.
Q.: Why are you accusing me of sending a "Nigerian 419 scam"?
A.: We're not. The perpetrators of the 419 scam manage to find a "sucker born every minute", which is why they have been so successful and why the scam continues to operate. They are also not organised and, unlike most spammers and scammers, have not automated their operations. So, occasionally one will think that he or she can use our contact form to try and scam us. The warning on our contact form is just a last-ditch, desperate attempt on our part to get any potential scammers (who can actually read) not to clutter our email with their messages. It doesn't always work. If you are not a 419 scammer, then the warning is not addressed to you.
Q.: What is an IP address?
A.: Every computer connected to the Internet is assigned an IP address so that is distinguishable from other computers on the Internet, and so that it is addressable. Even if you only connect to the Internet via a dial-up account for five minutes once a week, you are assigned an IP address during the time you are connected. Sometimes your IP address will change from one minute to the next, and sometimes it will remain the same for months or years. IP addresses are also usually associated with geographical areas, although this is not an exact science. Your computer's IP address is currently 38.103.63.16. Click on your IP address to see what company (usually your ISP) or organisation this IP address is allocated to and possibly (by extension) the geographical area it serves. For a more technical definition of an IP address, please see the WhatIs.com website.
Q.: Why is my IP address displayed?
A.: An IP address is displayed on the contact form as a warning to anyone who might want to attempt to use the form for nefarious purposes. If the contact form is used for sufficiently nefarious purposes (such as the death threats we have received), the IP address will be given to law-enforcement authorities. If you are not planning to use the contact form for nefarious purposes, then your IP address is not used for anything.
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Updated
December 30th, 2007
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