f/f george wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 00:07:50 GMT, KB <nospamme@nospam.com> wrote:

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 01:47:11 -0000, gheston@hiwaay.net (Gary Heston)
wrote:

S@h isn't inclined to change the email address on an account as it's
nearly impossible to verify who the account actually belongs to. If
you have some way of proving it's your S@h account and they have the
time, you might get it changed.

Its easy to prove. 
What work unit do you have now?
I have unit #xxxx.
Thats correct, we'll change your password.

But that is part of the cheating problem! A THOUSAND people could have
that very same unit and they would all get credit for turning it in!
There is NO WAY to confirm that YOU and ONLY YOU are the one entitled
to that unit!

Its not total proof, but heck, this isn't Mission Impossible.

Even if they would "fix" my account, there is NO WAY it would seem to
contact them, short of sending a message from a distant Galaxy.

CQ CQ SETI AT HOME CQ CQ PLEASE CHANGE MY ACCOUNT

There is no email account on the old website, none on the new website,
and I don't see anyone addressing all the others in with simular
problems in the msg boards on either site.

They're busy and I think almost all are volunteers--this is a spare
time project.

And the crunchers are getting paid?  We're volunteers too.  I've seen
tons of people on the msg boards with problems, untransferable
accounts, you name it.  Perhaps we're not worth it.

Perhaps I calculate PI at home for the heck of it.....

But I believe the point he was trying to make was how to prove ownership of an account. If someone were trying to fake ownership of an account so that the seti team would change the password for them, then it would be virtually impossible to "guess" the work unit that is currently being processed by the account, regardless of the fact that several people around the world may have the unit.

Of course the only downfall is in circumstances, say I view a friends computer, check which work unit he is processing and then email seti asking to change the password on my friends account because I know his current work unit...
I'm sure you could work something out though