From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 5 02:48:36 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0F980985 for ; Wed, 5 Mar 2014 02:48:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pa0-x236.google.com (mail-pa0-x236.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:400e:c03::236]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DC686FFC for ; Wed, 5 Mar 2014 02:48:35 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pa0-f54.google.com with SMTP id lf10so441485pab.27 for ; Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:48:35 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; bh=jLx4aTUhirM5TvxM2kuboFy2QvU2SwphoUs5V3GvyO8=; b=lvqMlkYBeXUdvWudvbIEzq6N+i2dW4oXVUhDGWmwsIfpVV+cfAEyqFHMqb9Zr/W8ln rRjjhAvNww8jEKNTZyHtjz1nUJ1QqkmYjC7dU68//XwPha5Uk58AJTfKZ+wy9rhSKbuL SX9lmAG/PuAw/p3oEu37gL4YUdAhSfhrEGMjRovrF58+9WFuJvLmYkvezAYbO6HuNJZf Oug1f8YoscikaDtXDsxciPY9aOqvfHLtkd93EzHV0huKs7p7BHkMoXW2RgrtwTyM4tpJ dgqZz2rE89OmMHeTzeWj8Uee1sdCf/jmNUOHAbK1ff4kxa7cQHD2fYgB+DQRpcSzBXr4 hrJA== MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.68.12.74 with SMTP id w10mr3642088pbb.39.1393987715416; Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:48:35 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.68.204.105 with HTTP; Tue, 4 Mar 2014 18:48:35 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <53168B33.9050602@tridentusa.com> References: <65506.128.135.70.2.1393967584.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu> <53168B33.9050602@tridentusa.com> Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 21:48:35 -0500 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Requiring list subscriptions (was Re: [Fwd: Gain Organic Traffic: Freebsdish.Org :PS]) From: "illoai@gmail.com" To: John Johnstone Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.17 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 02:48:36 -0000 On 4 March 2014 21:25, John Johnstone wrote: > On 3/4/2014 4:13 PM, Valeri Galtsev wrote: >> >> Dear mail list owner, > I've been subscribed to mailing lists for quite a few years but only to just > a few lists so perhaps my experience overall is quite limited. The FreeBSD > mailing lists are the only ones I've come across that have the policy of > "anyone can post". I was stunned to discover that you could post to the > FreeBSD mailing lists without being subscribed. All other lists I've > encountered have the policy of "only subscribers can post" with the obvious > intent of keeping out spam. Their thinking is also "ask here" and "get an > answer here". I'm curious to know what percentage of mailing lists today > allow posting by non-subscribers. > > Although I've only been subscribed to this list for about a year I don't > recall ever seeing spam that wouldn't have been stopped by requiring > subscription to post. Has there ever been any spam to this list that used a > forged subscriber address? Hi! Sorry, I hope not. This list (freebsd-questions@freebsd.org) has been this way for a long time, despite the spam problem. It is a newbie list, and most spammers are rejected soon enough (generally after one post) that it hardly matters, so the requirement to subscribe seems a tad onerous to some barely-hatched FreeBSD-er who wants to ask a question without having to sort through a veritable fire-hose (okay, the lists have slowed down significantly since the late 1990s & early 2000s, but there's still plenty of traffic). In any case, not all of the lists are like this. It has been discussed a great many times in the last couple of decades, as well, so I am adding an apology for adding to the noise level here: sorry. I doubt the official policy will be changing soon. Tertiarily (point-wise), I get more spam from having my address harvested from the archives than I get on-list. It's annoying, but it's part of the non- obvious price of otherwise free tech support. -- --