Re: lists.debian.org vs google groups
On Mon, Apr 03, 2006 at 10:21:47AM -0400, kamaraju kusumanchi wrote:
> John Hasler wrote:
> >raju writes:
> >
> >>Is there anything that can be done with lists.debian.org that cannot be
> >>done through google groups?
> >>
> >
> >Is there anything that can be done with google groups that cannot be
> >done through lists.debian.org?
> >
> Can be done - no.
> Will be done - yes.
>
> 1) In google groups, we can set 'only members can post' option. This can
> be done with lists.debian.org as well. But listsmasters' decision is to
> not do it.
This hasn't been done as we want people to be able to contribute as
easily as possible. Emails that come from non-subscribers are placed
through an extra spam check (the one we call crossassassin), which is
actually quite effective. It's stopped 590 spam emails from being
posted in the 65 hours.
> 2) The email addresses from d-u archives are available in clear text.
> This is another source of spam (as the spammers frequently scan through
> the arhives and look for email IDs). In google groups, the email
> addresses are not displayed in the archives. But at the same time, it
> wont deprive you of anything. One can still contact the original author
> if there is a need. Again this could possibly be done in
> lists.debian.org as well. But my understanding is that the listmasters'
> chose not to do it.
There have been a number of discussions about that. The main issue with
that so far, is that the @ sign is used by a number of different
programs to indicate things that aren't email address. We don't want to
mangle arch/baz archive names, we don't want to mangle perl or PHP code
that's posted to the list and so on.
Realistically, it might be possible to do something to make the archives
have a few less visible addresses, but I'm not sure this would make such
a huge difference. I will try and do some tests this weekend to see if
I can identify where things are coming from.
> The second point is very important IMHO. Just create a new email
> address. Subscribe to d-u. Wait for 4-5 days. Look at the amazing amount
> of spam you get. Now create another email address. Subscribe to some
> high volume, 'only members can post' google groups. Wait for 4-5 days.
> Look at the spam you receive. You will see what I mean.
You shouldn't get any spam sent to your new address unless you actually
post something. If you do, you will get some. This doesn't have to come
from a spam bot going through our list archives though. There are for
example, a number of news gateways that take up our lists. Obscuring our
archives would not affect those.
Cheers,
Pasc
--
Pascal Hakim 0403 411 672
Do Not Bend
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