[Freeciv-Dev] Re: SPAM in the Mailing LIST - A proposal ...

[Daniel L Speyer <dspeyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 12 May 2002, Thanasis Kinias wrote:

> scripsit Daniel L Speyer:
> > On Sun, 12 May 2002, Thanasis Kinias wrote:
> > > scripsit Davide Pagnin:
> 
> > > > Thus I want to suggest to make the list closed, so that only subscribers
> > > > can post to ML (I'm suggesting this only for the development and AI ML).
> > > 
> > > and freeciv-data, too.
> > > 
> > > I cannot believe that this is anything other than oversight.  Is it
> > > possible that anyone prefers to receive spam?
> > > 
> > 
> > I'm sure not, but IIRC, we receive a nontrivial quantity of non-spam from
> > non-subscribers.  Before I joined, I spent a little while reading the
> > web-archive daily, and even posted a few things.  I subscribed when I
> > got tired of the delay.  I don't think I'm the only one to do something
> > like that.
> > 
> > I think it's important to keep the developement process welcoming to
> > all.  Surely there's a less destructive way to catch spam?
> 
> There really isn't any other way to catch spam, at least not without
> massive effort or willingness to block non-spam.  As a crude (but often
> proposed) example, you can block mail originating from .cn and .kr
> addresses; that stops a high percentage of spam, but obviously will
> block legitimate mail too.  Blocking non-subscribers is simple and
> doesn't harm anyone.  It is trivial to subscribe to the freeciv lists,
> and with the ability to block delivery there's no reason _not_ to
> subscribe if one wishes to participate.
> 
> Is there really any reason not to ask people to subscribe before
> posting?
> 

freeciv-dev is a pretty high-traffic list.  A lot of people are reluctant
to subscribe to such things.

I'd been picturing something like the /. lameness filter, but, looking
back, it probably won't work.  How about a compromise: block
non-subscribers, but set up a web interface to allow posting anyway.  Make
it complex enough to block spam-bots (shouldn't be hard -- most of them
ignore web-forms anyway).  How's that sound?

--Daniel Speyer
If you *don't* consider sharing information to be morally equivalent to 
kidnapping and murder on the high seas, you probably shouldn't use the
phrase "software piracy."

> -- 
> Thanasis Kinias
> Web Developer, Information Technology
> Graduate Student, Department of History
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A.
> 
> Ash nazg durbatulūk, ash nazg gimbatul,
> Ash nazg thrakatulūk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
> 
> 
>