From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 6 19:57:16 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Delivered-To: freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DB14B16A40F for ; Mon, 6 Nov 2006 19:57:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from cyrus.watson.org (cyrus.watson.org [209.31.154.42]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 23B1643D68 for ; Mon, 6 Nov 2006 19:57:10 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [209.31.154.41]) by cyrus.watson.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8DCDF46D4F; Mon, 6 Nov 2006 14:57:10 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 19:57:10 +0000 (GMT) From: Robert Watson X-X-Sender: robert@fledge.watson.org To: Spadge In-Reply-To: <454E19CC.7040208@fromley.net> Message-ID: <20061106195524.P39454@fledge.watson.org> References: <454E19CC.7040208@fromley.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Posting restrictions on this mailing list (for spam control)? X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:57:16 -0000 On Sun, 5 Nov 2006, Spadge wrote: > Ross Finlayson wrote: >> Am I the only person who's tired of all of the spam on this mailing list? >> Why is this mailing list not set up so that only subscribers to the list >> can post to it? This has been standard mailing list procedure for several >> years now. > > Spam is annoying, for sure. But I think every now and then spamassassin, or > whatever system the board uses, dies, and on those days we get a bunch of > spam. Usually, though, it's fixed pretty quickly ... until the next time. > > It's quite possible that, as the list members aren't moderated, the sending > bots actually sign up. I'm not sure about this, though. I've not tested the > list with an unsigned address, either, but it's quite possible you do have > to be a member to post. Once in a while, the spam filtering on FreeBSD.org keels over and the level of spam briefly increases until it's fixed. Over the weekend, the FreeBSD.org hardware was relocated to a rolling rack in preparation for it to be moved to a different colo, since Yahoo! is vacating the current colo it's sitting in. Disruption of this type often results in a window where spamassassin isn't processing in-bound mail, so it bypasses spam filtering; I expect this is probably what happened with respect to a bump in the spam rate in the last day or two. Robert N M Watson Computer Laboratory University of Cambridge