[anti-abuse-wg] Spam FAQs need revision, was 2011-06 New Policy

That would be fine too.  It's far better not to have a "Hacking &
Spamming" section [1] in the FAQ than having wrong entries.  Is it
possible to remove it?

[1] http://www.ripe.net/data-tools/db/faq/faq-hacking-spamming

thanks

On 12/Dec/11 16:14, Michele Neylon :: Blacknight wrote:
> +1
> 
> On 12 Dec 2011, at 09:47, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:
> 
>> It is a FAQ, not an advocacy portal.
>> 
>> Simply link to the MAAWG best practices document - there's several
>> available for providers, end users etc.
>> 
>> Tryign to define spam and write faqs on spam ends up as a hair
>> splitting discussion, so I'd rather not have it here or reinvent
>> multiple of maawg's wheels.
>> 
>> thank you
>> srs
>> 
>> On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Alessandro Vesely <vesely at tana.it> wrote:
>>> All,
>>> some of the replies to spam FAQs are bad.
>>> 
>>> FAQ#1 (What is spam?) looks good enough to me.  So I'd start with
>>> FAQ#2 that Leo brought up recently
>>> 
>>> On 01/Dec/11 16:27, Leo Vegoda wrote:
>>>> Hi Tobias, You wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> The naive user should use the abuse finder tool which is already
>>>>> in place and would run much easier than today
>>>> 
>>>> I disagree and I support the RIPE NCC's answer in its abuse FAQ:
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.ripe.net/data-tools/db/faq/faq-hacking-spamming/should-i-just-ignore-spam
>>> 
>>> I too disagree with Tobias' statement, at least for some values of
>>> "naive user".  Nevertheless, that FAQ's answer is bad.  It reads:
>>> 
>>>   Should I just ignore spam?
>>> 
>>>   Yes. We recommend that you simply ignore and delete any spam
>>>   emails you get. Spam is a universal problem and there is not much
>>>   that can be done to stop it. However, if you do want to try to
>>>   find out where the spam is originating from you can follow the
>>>   steps in FAQ 5.
>>> 
>>> I propose the following replacement text:
>>> 
>>>   Should I just ignore spam?
>>> 
>>>   Your mailbox provider may equip you with some means to report
>>>   spam.  If you can conveniently deploy such means using your
>>>   preferred email client, please do so.  Otherwise, we recommend
>>>   that you simply ignore and delete any spam emails you get.  Your
>>>   email client may provide you with filters to do so automatically.
>>> 
>>>   Spam is a social problem, not a technical one.  Therefore,
>>>   technical remedies tend to get rather complicated.  If you are a
>>>   mailbox provider or want to learn more about how to find out where
>>>   the spam is originating from, you can follow the steps in the FAQ
>>>   entry "How can I counter spam?"
>>> 
>>> Please note that FAQ#5 currently asks "What can I do to stop spam
>>> emails?"  Since FAQ entries are not numbered, referring to "FAQ 5" is
>>> ambiguous, so I quoted its text, and changed the question while at it.
>>>  FAQ#5 needs an even deeper revision, but please let's tackle them one
>>> at a time.
>>> 
>>> Does everyone agree with the replacement text for FAQ#2?
>>> 
>>>> The overwhelming majority of abuse is perpetrated by skilled
>>>> professionals who work hard to hide their tracks. Telling ordinary
>>>> Internet users that they have a useful role in identifying abuse
>>>> sources and reporting them to the hosting networks is a cruel lie.
>>> 
>>> Agreed.
>>> 
>>>> The scale of the problem requires large scale sampling and
>>>> statistical analysis rather than individual reports.
>>> 
>>> In part agreed.  Individual reports are useful because humans can
>>> complement automated filters in detecting spam, albeit both make
>>> errors.  At any rate, I agree individual reports are to be collected.
>>>  That's why I'm proposing to amend that entry.
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Suresh Ramasubramanian (ops.lists at gmail.com)
>> 
> 
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