Re: spam and debian-curiosa - proposal for solution

[Adam Olsen <rhamph@d2dc.net>]

On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 08:13:41AM +0800, Onno Benschop wrote:
> I suspect there should be a debian-spam list to discuss this, but I'm 
> guessing it would act like a magnet :-)

If we were to seriously attempt to setup moderation then such a list
would be very desirable (but I'd prefer calling it debian-moderators).

> 
> I also think this issue is applicable to all debian lists, it just seems 
> that of the lists I subscribe to, curiosa is the location this issue is 
> being discussed on (as others pointed out, both good and bad)

Yeah.

> 
> Readers to this list will know that I've asked silly questions about this 
> in the past, but as I see it there are a number of issues to be dealt with 
> regards to spam.
> 
> i1. Postings to debian should be as open as we can make it, but this also 
> allows spammers to post.
> i2. Automatic software will filter most (if not all spam), but it *may* 
> also filter legitimate messages.
> i3. The amount of traffic to debian lists makes it difficult to have a 
> moderator for each (or all) list(s).
> i4. spam to some is an issue to be dealt with locally at the receiver, 
> others feel that from a resource perspective, it is better to be dealt with 
> at the distribution side.
> 
> On to the questions:
> q1. Is there a way to only accept postings from a verifiable (at time of 
> posting) address?

I don't think so, not without sending a test email to them that
requires a reply.  No better than simply subscribing to the list.

> q2. Could we only moderate spam filtered messages by way of a pool of 
> moderators?

This is how I envisioned it being done.  I don't know how to set it up
though.

> q3. Could we create a filtered version of each list (debian-*-filtered) and 
> let the subscriber deal with which list to subscribe to?

I think this'd lead to a fork of the lists, which'd be Bad (tm).

My ideal way of setting it up would be a pool of moderators, with
tools to automatically *allow* some people, specifically those
subscribed and those from known-good addresses.  The rest would fall
to the moderators.

I'd also like to have some sort of debian-rejected list (or atleast an
archive for the list) that includes all the rejected mailings, for
reference.

Making it notify people if they don't get handled within an hour may
be an additional useful feature.

-- 
Adam Olsen, aka Rhamphoryncus