Re: [lagoon007@localhost: How are you?]

[Anders Andersson <]

torben fjerdingstad unitfj-as@localhost wrote:
>On Tue, Oct 23, 2001 at 08:51:54AM -0700, nathan@localhost wrote:
>> Sort of ironic for an ANTI-spam mailing list to put its members' email
>> addresses on the web...
>
>Will somebody please cripple the email addresses, accessible under
>http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail-archives/anti-spam-wg ?

For the record, while I support Torben's wish to have the e-mail
addresses crippled in the public archive, I consider it a bad
solution in the long term, as it also means giving in (sort of)
to the spammers view: "If you don't want our spam, get the hell
off the Internet and out of our sight!"

I don't find it ironic at all that an anti-spam mailing list puts
its members' e-mail addresses on the web.  Idealistic, maybe, but
not ironic.  The web is where our e-mail addresses should be, so
that people can contact us.  The spammers are the ones that should
go into hiding, not us.  If only those who tolerate spam display
their e-mail addresses on the web, address harvesters will have an
easier job selling their stuff.  "If you don't want to receive
further solicitations from us, simply remove your e-mail address
from your web page!"

Personally, I avoid posting my address in public these days, but
if I do, I make a point of not obfuscating it in any way.  I may
even create a separate address exclusively for posting it on a
particular web page.  I don't get any less spam that way, but if
I get spam to such an address, I appreciate being able to tell
where the sender obtained it.

But for the time being, I accept having the anti-spam-wg mailing
list archive cripple our e-mail addresses, as an emergency measure
simply to cut down on the amount of junk we all get.  We who want
to post our e-mail addresses in public can do so anyway, along with
any spam-traps we like.

However, spam has been sent to the RIPE mailing lists themselves in
the past (that's actually why I discovered and joined this list),
and I'm worried that the RIPE mailing list server isn't properly
protected from spam.  If there is some mechanism in place, I'd like
to see it so that we can determine whether it's sufficient for our
needs.

>I created my email address unitfj-as exclusively for use with
>this mailing list. During just the week-end I got two spams
>to that address.

When I get spam, I try to have the offending SMTP client address
blacklisted, regardless of which e-mail address the spam was sent
to.  It may be an open relay, it may be a dial-up address, or some
other listing criteria.  I use ORDB (Danish quality services), and
I want more of that kind... :-)

--
Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University
Paper Mail: Box 325, S-751 05 UPPSALA, Sweden
Phone: +46 18 4713170   EMail: andersa@localhost