While I don't like the idea of limiting messages to subscribers (I hate signing up for things, especially when I'm only going to post a few messages), I think it's still very important. Like any other problem, ignoring it will only send a message of passive acceptance and the amount of spam WILL increase. Don't fool yourselves into thinking that it will go away.
Complaining that it's taking too long and too many messages to discuss a problem is frankly a selfish and self-denying point. You're the ones who want to ignore the spam, but at some point the amount of spam will be as numerous as the messages you're complaining about now. Consider this a glimpse at the future if we ignore the problem. I don't believe spam will ever go away since some people are just determined to get it through to everyone they can. However, we CAN eliminate a lot of it because the majority of spammers are lazy. So consider these two options: 1) The list gets restricted to member-posting only or at least something to the effect of PHP's mailing list where your first initial post must be verified to go through, and all subsequent posts are fine. As I said before, since the majority of spammers are lazy, I don't believe many will take the time to verify and send it out again... but you never know. In any case, the list gets restricted and the amount of spam drops, as do these types of arguments. I don't think people are going to raise hell over an occasional spam. Once spamming programs find a way around the verification/subscription programs, there will have to be additional improvements on them to continue to deny those spamming programs. But the bottom line is that spam will drop. 2) The list stays the same. There will inevitably be more discussions like this after a series of spammings, which will take up bandwidth, magnetize your credit cards, and sour your milk. It'll be annoying because we'll all be getting the spams and the protests against it. You'll get annoyed just because of the protesters, but there's really nothing you can do about them. The way I see it, we should go to option #1, as much as I hate subscribing. It just makes the most sense. - Jonathan -----Original Message----- From: Marjolein Katsma [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 12:30 AM To: Michael T. Babcock [EMAIL PROTECTED] [RegSoft/mysql]; MySQL Subject: Re: Heads up re Spam. At 07:16 2002-01-11, Michael T. Babcock wrote: >On Thu, Jan 10, 2002 at 08:55:35PM +0100, Marjolein Katsma wrote: >> That proves it's a REAL problem for subscribers to this list. > >No, it proves that some subscribers (like yourself) have real problems. > >Your E-mails will all be blacklisted at my border if I see you whining >about this on-list again; So? > whine to the administrators _in private_. This is a matter that concerns all members of this list. If I am in a minority, fine. But even a minority should have a voice. The fact that people are actually *leaving* this list because of the continuing spam should give the administrators (and you ) a clue. Wouldn't they rather lose the spammers than valuable list members? >> >If you raise the noise ratio from .5% to 2.5% by whining >> >so much, who is really the problem? >> >> The list management - because they do not limit posting to subscribers only. > >Your logic skills are extremely lacking. The list administration did not >require you to post your whining to the list. I don't want to hear what you >have to say about spam; I ignore the spam as, obviously, do the hundreds of >other subscribers not whining on the list. My logic skills are fine. The list administrators are forcing me to pay for downloading the spam they let through. They should not. I don't mind paying for member's posts, I do mind paying for spam. As long as spam is allowed here, this will keep coming up. Ignoring spam is not a solution - we *all* pay for it because of the huge costs involved with the bandwidth it takes up. >PS, I post to a lot of lists I'm not a member of. So do I. > The ones that _require_ >membership for me to post lose my traffic as well as my use of their software. The ones that do not require membership to post *all* suffer from spam. Hence I much prefer posting by members only. database,sql,query,table -- Marjolein Katsma HomeSite Help - http://hshelp.com/ - Extensions, Tips and Tools The Bookstore - http://books.hshelp.com/ - Books for webmasters and webrookies --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
