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Date:      Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:41:22 -0600
From:      Colin Faber <cfaber@fpsn.net>
To:        Bart Matthaei <bart@dreamflow.nl>
Cc:        Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za>, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Administrivia: Discussion - Making this list subscriber-only
Message-ID:  <3D6BD5E2.F64D7161@fpsn.net>
References:  <200208271049.g7RAnrl5019226@grimreaper.grondar.org> <20020827122623.GC34393@heresy.dreamflow.nl>

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Bart Matthaei wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Aug 27, 2002 at 11:49:53AM +0100, Mark Murray wrote:
> > Hello Security list members
> >
> > I got an overwhelmingly positive (off-list, thanks!) response to
> > my complaint that this list's signal-to-noise ratio was terrible.
> >
> > Some folks are still replying to spam on list, but the noise figure
> > has dropped significantly. Thank you!
> >
> > I would very much like to make this list subscriber-only. This will
> > cut down dramatically on spam and the inevitable misdirected
> > 'subscribe' postings. The downside is that folks will not be able
> > to reply to the list if they receive it via a list redirector (IE
> > if a corporate role account/list-alias has been used to subscribe).
> > In this case, those folks would become read-only members (which may
> > in some cases be OK). Other folks would need to subscribe to the
> > list with their 'real' email address.
> 
> I dissagree with the idea of making this list subscriber-only. There
> are people who mail to this list with a single question, and without
> subscribing to the list. If you make this list subscriber-only, you
> are forcing these people to subscribe. I personally hate it when I
> have to subscribe to a list when I only have one single report or
> question.
> 
No this is not true. An alternative portal such as a CGI system which
can
post to the list could be used for such a task.  Yes I know you can
still
exploit a system like this to spam the list however your average idiot
spammer isn't going to know this, or even bother to look into it.

> If you want to get rid of spam, just get a spamfilter, and stop
> complaining, because the actual discussion about spam is more annoying
> than the spam itself.

spam filters can be an effective way of blocking spam they also can
effectively block non spam related postings resulting in false
positives. Required subscription to use a free service isn't the
worst thing in the world and it's a far better solution than to simply
continuing to allow the daily junk mail we've all seen over the last
6 to 8 months.  Plus the fact that the junk mail it self is going up
over all.


> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bart
> 
> --
> Bart Matthaei                 bart@dreamflow.nl
> 
> Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.
> 

-- 
Colin Faber
(303) 736-5160
fpsn.net, Inc.

* Black holes are where God divided by zero. *

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