Spam avoidance

[Terry Reedy]

"Douglas Alan" <nessus at mit.edu> wrote in message 
news:m2pskfwkxk.fsf at lexx.mit.edu...
> I've noticed that there is little to no spam in comp.lang.python and
> am wondering how this is accomplished.  Is there a moderator who
> actively cancels spam?

For the newsgroup, as opposed to the maillist, there is no moderators. 
There may be readers who cancel spam.

>  If so, that wouldn't seem to prevent spam from
> making it through to the mailing list version of the newsgroup.  Is
> there an exceptionally good spam filter in place?  If so, I haven't
> previously seen one that works so well.  Have spammers just given up
> on Usenet, figuring that there are more exciting places to spam than
> the Big 8 dinosaur?

People who spam the 'dinosaur' groups tend to lose their newsgroup 
accounts.  News sites that cater to spammers and refuse to cancel can be 
blacklisted and disconnected from the main body of Usenet.  (I know this 
was done in the 90s, and presume threat still exists.)

> The reason that I ask is that I help to run another newsgroup
> (rec.music.gaffa) and we avoid spam by requiring that every
> participant who wants to post has to register on a Mailman.  But I
> think that this approach has the seriously detrimental effect of
> discouraging new participants, so I've been wondering about
> alternative approaches.

news.gmane.net, which turns technical mailing lists into free-access 
newsgroups, sends a note to first time posters (per list, I believe) and 
requires a response before sending the message onward.  Was no problem for 
me, as I appreciate the filtering.

Terry Jan Reedy