At 10:09 AM 1/31/99 +0000, Ivan Pope wrote:
>Now, whatever way you look at that, one use of one address had a huge
>effect on our service for a few days.
And you could have prevented all of that if you had used one other address
properly - your contact address.
Did you ever hear the joke about the mule? You see, this young farmhand
was driving his mule drawn wagon up a road in the US deep south. And the
mule just decided to stop --- it sat down and wouldn't move. It was
blocking traffic, and causing a hell of a mess. The kid was yelling at it,
had tried cajoling it with carrots, he had tried pulling it with the reins,
he had tried giving it a minute and then getting it started with the reins
normally, and was at a loss. It was ignoring everything he did, just
sitting there on its haunches like a mule will sometimes. Stubborn as a
mule, as it were.
Finally an old farmer stopped his model T and said, "I see you all got
yerself a bit of trouble there. Your mule ain't a'movin."
The kid cussed up a storm and said, "I can see that my mule ain't a'movin,
and I ain't able to get him to move, no matter what I do!"
"I can git thot thar mule to move," the old farmer said, "but you gotta let
me do anythin' I want, and not say nothin'."
The kid, at a loss for words, nodded his head, and silently agreed to let
the old codger have his way with the mule.
The old farmer parked his car and went to the back, and pulled out a 2 by 4
about 4 feet long. He walked up to the mule, and the mule completely
ignored him. Then that old farmer swung the 2 by 4 as hard as he could,
and hit the mule right between the eyes. The mule was rocked back, and
turned to look at the farmer.
The farmer said, "Git up, thar, mule! Kid, give him the reins!" The kid
slapped the mule's rump with the reins and the mule leaned into the traces
and pulled the cart on down the road.
As the bystanders cheered, the farmer walked back to his car and tossed the
2 by 4 in the back. He was overheard to say as he walked back to the
driver's seat, "Mules. Stubborn critters. Sometimes you jest have to get
their attention before you can communicate with them."
>You may understand _how_ it works, but you don't understand _what_ it does.
You were hosting a spam site, you would not respond to complaints, and it
got your attention. It also let your customers know that they were
patronizing a site which was associated with spam and that therefore they
could not expect reliable service until the owners and operators mended
their ways. Seems to me it worked fine. It got your attention, didn't it?
If you had moved when the kid clucked at you, no one would have had to hit
you with the 2 by 4.
>BTW, there are claims being made that the RBL has hugely lessened the
>amount of 'spam' on the Internet. I would be very interested to see the
>source for this assertion.
Frankly, I don't care. If it works to make life hell for those who are
spammers, harbor spammers and ignore spam complaints (and the customers and
patrons of those who harbor spammers), it has done its job. After all,
they make my life hell everyday. Your complaints make me support it all
the more.
>I am also still waiting for anyone's definition of 'spam'.
Unsolicited Commercial e-mail, composed once and sent to more than one
e-mail address or newsgroup.
--
That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.
That which does kill us makes us smell stronger, after a few days, anyway.
Nick Simicich mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] or (last choice)
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://scifi.squawk.com/njs.html -- Stop by and Light Up The World!
