Gateway to python-list is generating bounce messages.

[Ben Finney]

Steven D'Aprano <steven at REMOVE.THIS.cybersource.com.au> writes:

> Nor do I believe that by posting a news message I've automatically 
> consented to receive email messages. To imply that the one implies the 
> other is equivalent to arguing that because I've written a letter to the 
> editor of a newspaper, I therefore must accept private correspondence 
> from any person or corporation that has a subscription to that newspaper.

The two are not equivalent in this important detail: to post a
newsgroup message, you must give a 'From' field in the header (note:
just like email messages, newsgroup messages have exactly one header,
comprised of multiple fields).

You can fake an address in that field, of course, but it's considered
bad form to do so. (That doesn't stop it being extremely common.) What
you can't do is claim that, without express permission, no-one may
send you an individual message to that address. On the contrary, that
is the express purpose of the From field in a newsgroup message: to
allow individual contact to the sender of the message.

In the case of a letter to the editor a newspaper, the protocol is
different. The newspapers are expected, by convention, to state the
name and, often, suburb (or other location) of the writer; i.e. not
enough information to send an individual message to the person. You
might wish that Usenet operated the same in this respect, but it
doesn't, and you can't reasonably expect that it does.

-- 
 \      “If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?” |
  `\                                                    —Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney