[ On Monday, January 14, 2002 at 22:51:23 (-0800), Wim Kerkhoff wrote: ] > Subject: Re: Spam on info-cvs list. > > I'm not to sure how affective RBL lists are
I am very sure of exactly how effective the RBLs are at blocking spam. I've checked all the spams to this list in the normal course of checking all the spam I receive. > -- some of the valid > messages on this list are going through relays that are RBL'd. I'm not so sure about that, at least not with the specific RBLs I've mentioned. I've not been nearly so diligent in checking valid on-topic messages to the list though, which is why I can't be so sure. In any case this concern is entirely irrelevant. Any legitimate post rejected by the list can be either re-directed through some other unblocked relay by the poster, or even forwarded to the list manager(s) for manually approved forwarding. > Now, that > sucks -- both for the poster how may be asking a valid question, or > somebody who's waiting for an answer... its not the user's fault that > some ISP somewhere is black listed. Users choose the Intenet community they join. If you get in with a bunch of spammers then you get what they get. :-) ISPs who allow spammers to use their networks threaten all of their customers, not just the bad ones (and thus hopefully threaten their entire business, though the effectiveness of the latter threat is for their other customers to decide of course). In any case the way a user decides to forward their e-mail is something that's literally _always_ possible to change, no matter what any user's connectivity choices are. With the availability of SMTP AUTH it's now possible to securely allow any authorised client to relay messages through any appropriately configured mail server anywhere on the Internet. Furthermore remember that RBLs and other such blocking and filtering mechanisms are just an alternative to restricting the list to subscribers only. With subscriber-only posting restrictions the > Spam is one of the things I hate, but I just learn to cope with (hit > 'd'!) and ignore. Most people don't have time or a desire to do > anything more. I don't mind too much having to configure my own mailer to deflect direct spam sent to it, but I do mind very much when spammers are allowed to use widely distributed mailing lists that I happen to subscribe to since that makes it impossible for me to employ some of the most effective mechanisms I know of to reject those spams. This is the very last mailing list at gnu.org that I subscribe to (where once I subscribed to, and actively participated in, at least a half dozen or so), and I may not stay here much longer. With several spams a day coming from it, and with the amount of spams I receive from other sources steadily falling in number, this list is becoming significantly annoying. I know I'm very much not alone in having to unsubscribe from poorly managed lists because of the spam floods. I would gladly host the list distribution myself, though I'm not willing or able to serve as the list manager, nor would I be willing or able to operate any part of any mail-to-news gateway. -- Greg A. Woods +1 416 218-0098; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Planix, Inc. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; VE3TCP; Secrets of the Weird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ Info-cvs mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-cvs