On Friday, May 18, 2001, at 06:25 PM, Tim Pierce wrote:
> We still bounce some fair number of virus notifications from our
> mailing lists. Part of me would prefer, in principle, not to bounce
> them. The other part says, who cares?
Back when they were all pretty much bogus, I took a real hard line on
this stuff.
A while back I redid my list rules, I decided to change it. I now outlaw
posting chain letters or e-mail hoaxes. While I still think virus
warnings are off-topic for my lists, I just can't convince myself to
yell at someone for warning people about a real virus, especially if
he's sending along a note saying "I caught this, it sent itself to all
of my address book, so watch out!" (even though my lists strip all that
stuff, I think it's unreasonable to expect users to know that when
they're recovering from one of these beasties.
This allows me to yell at folks who don't do basic research (my rules
have direct links to both Symantec and CIAC, so they don't even have to
think about where to research stuff...), but doesn't require me to do so
to people who are legitimately passing along info (I might still take
them aside privately, depending on the situation).
> We spent years trying to educate people not to believe "virus
> warnings" that they got in e-mail anyway, since 99% of the time
> they're the Budweiser Frogs hoax. Warnings about a *real* virus
> will come to them through other channels.
>
Except these days, I see very, very few hoax mails, and lots of "I
caught this, it sent itself to everytone on my list, and you're one of
them...". And to me, that's a whole different kettle of fish...
--
Chuq Von Rospach, Internet Gnome <http://www.chuqui.com>
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Yes, yes, I've finally finished my home page. Lucky you.
"He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."
