Regular readers will realise that Winter Butterfly seems to have gone into hibernation as I haven't sent any thing for a week. I'm sorry about this, but I wanted to have a think about something that happened. As I have discussed it with a few people, to avoid any rumours, I decided I had better let you all know about it.

Basically, I received an obscene email form a hotmail address, attached to which was a photograph of a young lady which I assume was intended to offend me. I don't even think it was from a chessplayer. I think it was just some juvenile who had somehow got hold of a copy of the ezine and was having a bit of fun.

Those of you who have received this sort of message will be familiar with the contents. However, as an ex-lecturer, I was rather concerned by the grammatical errors and poor spelling. He(?) couldn't even spell the obscenities he was trying to use. In the end I felt I had no alternative but to correct it and return it to him with a grade of D minus, although I did ask him to send any more photographs he had of the young lady. For some reason he has not replied and I can only assume he has decided not to resubmit this particular assignment.

All good fun, but there is one serious point. I've always been rather dubious about giving details of the email addresses to which the ezine is sent. This incident has convinced me that my over cautious approach is correct. In future, as a matter of policy, the ezine will be sent out in the form of blind carbon copies, i.e. you won't see the addresses of other recipients. If you want to contact someone and you think I may have their address, by all means send me an email and I'll pass it on to them if I can (or return it to you if I can't).