Aloha Paul,
The double opt-in or confirmed opt-in is where you send a subscribe message
to the list, the list sends a response to the address being subscribed, and
the user has to modify and reply to that message before the subscription is
processed. Done properly this defeats any automated subscription mechanisms
used by spam-ware.
Being able to read the mail via the web is great. It is the posting from
websites than can be a can of worms to manage, depending on how it is
implemented. The main thing is to keep it from being something that can be
scripted and abused by spam-ware in combination with auto-enrolling scripts.
Spammers are by nature lazy, greedy, and unethical. They believe that
whatever is the easiest and cheapest for *them* is what is ok to do. Make
it hard for them to spam this site and they will move along to someone elses
site which is not as well protected.
Making the first post by a new user have to be approved is easy to do with
Majordomo. I'm not sure what software you are using, though. An
alternative would be a five-day delay of posting permissions. Since
spammers tend to have their accounts terminated fairly quickly for abuse, if
you require them to do a confirmed subscription and then delay them for a
week from posting, the odds are that their account will have been closed
down and they won't be able to post. For the 99.9% good people who
subscribe, it will basically have them do what is very often recommended by
listmanagers: read the list traffic for a few days before you post - get a
feel for the audience and typical dialogue and what is appropriate for
discussion and what will likely get you flamed.
As for the various *BL type lists they have varying levels of success; the
MAPS list is no longer an option for those who don't want to pay for it
though, as MAPS now requires paid subscriptions. The good ones to use are
the ones that block people doing direct MX posting from dialups. These are
almost always someone using spamware, and more and more ISP's are actually
blocking outbound port 25 from their dialup pools because of it.
I'm really glad you are looking at this - of the various lists I'm on, with
the exception of the few spam messages sent here yours has the highest SNR
and some of the brightest minds in the industry. It does say a lot for our
industry that the likes of Priscilla O, Howard B, et al freely give of their
time day in and day out. (That includes the many other brilliant CCIE's and
CCIE's to be as well.)
-
James D. Wilson, CCDA, MCP
"non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem"
William of Ockham (1285-1347/49)
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
Paul Borghese
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2001 9:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: DNL Blackhole list for GroupStudy [7:14082]
Hey James,
Those are some good idea, but they have a few problems. First, the majority
of the users of this list are on a newsfeed or read through the website.
These are very popular options I do not want to eliminate.
The CCIELAB list does require registered users before allowing the posting.
While this has eliminated spam, it has also caused about 10 legitimate
messages/day to be rejected - along with the one or two spam messages.
I think the solutions is approve all first-time posters. After you have
posted a few messages, you will be allowed to post without approval. Of
course, this will require substantial rewriting of the software. I also
like the idea of hiding the e-mail address from the webfeed. I hate to do
it, but it seems to be necessary.
What do you mean by "double opt-in" registration?
Take care,
Paul
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=14327&t=14082
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