[solve]

Edit: Oh cool, Hackernews still has this account rank-banned so the comments always stay at the bottom of the page no matter how many upvotes they get.

So happy that I'm not the only one who was extremely surprised and upset about Angel List's impersonation tactics.

In my experience, 100% of the people who received this impersonation email that angel.co sent, thought it was written by me. If the system wants to send a message on my behalf, it must AT LEAST show me what would be sent with my signature on it, and allow me to confirm or cancel any email that's signed with my full name before it's sent. Angel List is sending out emails with your signature and other impersonation tricks, totally behind your back.

I've had people impersonate emails from me in the past as well. Even if the emails aren't offensive, just the idea that someone else now thinks they have my permission to send whatever they want to, while impersonating me behind my back makes me feel extremely uneasy.

Here's the impersonation email they send to cofounders when they're added to a profile. As you can see, signing the email with the user's full name, as if the user had written the letter, is a clear impersonation that the user never consents to.

    FROM: <MY_FULL_NAME> <[e-mail]>

    Hi <RECEIVER_NAME>,

    I'm building an AngelList profile for <PROJECT_NAME> and need your help.

    Can you do me a favor and confirm that you're a founder by clicking here:

    https://angel.co/l/54223434234234583948593475

    This is important to us; confirming that you're a founder will help us build our profile.

    Thanks,
    <MY_FULL_NAME>

    P.S. If you would like to visit our profile first, go here: https://angel.co/<PROJECT_NAME>

Email headers used:

    From: <MY_FULL_NAME> <[e-mail]>
    Reply-To: <MY_FULL_NAME> <[e-mail]>

[enzanki_ars]

In the past couple of weeks I began signing my emails with PGP. Those who are technically inclined can ensure that I sent it, and those not would be a little more suspicious of an automated looking email without a random string of characters at the end.