[Mailman-Users] adult advertisement

[Dan Wilder]

On Mon, Dec 18, 2000 at 11:25:29AM -0800, Roger B.A. Klorese wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Dec 2000, Bob Puff at NLE wrote:
> > Now come on people, why isn't this list closed to only subscribers?!?!
> 
> Having support lists open for posts by non-subscribers is a long-standing
> tradition in many corners, to enable people to get quick help.  I'd much
> rather see smart spam-traps and aggressive pursuit than give up on this
> entirely. 
> -- 
> ROGER B.A. KLORESE                                          rogerk at QueerNet.ORG

I run a number of such lists.  They do get spam, but we manage to
weed out quite a bit of it by rejecting mail that doesn't have
"To:", "From:", or "Cc:" the list.

This at least eliminates spammers who use massive third-party relays
to multiply their output.  With one email going via relay to 10,000
recipients, it isn't practical to put all 10,000 in the headers.

The spams that get though are mostly from spammers who seem to be
running list-bots that subscribe first, then spam.  A closed
list is not much protection from those.

Interestingly enough, we've reduced our incidence of those by requiring
a confirming email before a list subscription is enabled.  The list
server sends email to the prospective subscriber containing an auth
cookie, which must be returned to the list manager.  Amazing, the
number of bounced auth messages we get!

Sure cuts down on undeliverable list mail.  As well as preventing
spammers from spamming our closed lists.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 Dan Wilder <dan at ssc.com>     Technical Manager & Correspondent
 SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549     Phone:  206-782-7733 x123
 Seattle, WA  98155-0549      URL    http://www.linuxjournal.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------