Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] Avoiding S-P-A-M Richard Yee Mon, 11 Jan 1999 21:52:40 -0800

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There's a few ways, most of which won't work that well...

1.  Require a username/password to access the archives, give it to them
on the website, and have it automatically change everyday.  Except,
someone who wanted to grab the e-mail addresses could find this
authentication info.

2.  Require a username/password, but restrict it to subscribers. 
Doesn't help the occasional browser searching for home automation
products.

3.  Insert a noS-P-A-M in front of the e-mail address.  The spammer
could have this automatically removed.

4.  Remove the e-mail address entirely.  Again, doesn't help a new user
that might want advice on how you accomplished something.

Pros vs. Cons
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Someone looking for information on setting up an appliance module could
search through the archives, and perhaps e-mail the author to find out
how they solved their problem (quickly, easily, and they don't have to
subscribe to the list).

What About..?
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If you insert a NoS-p-A-m in your Reply-To: address, it might help
reduce any spam you might receive, but you'll probably spend more time
and effort with all the problems that are associated with an incorrect
Reply-To: address than with deleting your spam.  Also, new e-mail
programs will allow you to filter and automatically move/delete special
(junk) mail.

It's Not As Bad
---------------
People realize that unsolicited e-mail doesn't work.  Personally, I'm a
member of many mailing lists, have posted to them with my real e-mail
address, and haven't received any s-p-a-m.  With my other e-mail
address, the only spam I've received is for submitting my e-mail address
to some websites.  Even then, their "unsubscribe" feature was legit and
it worked.  The ecs-list-subscribe@netbloc.com rarely gets any spam
either.....


Let me know what you think!
Richard

Michael David wrote:
> 
> Hi Richard!
> 
> Looks great!
> 
> Any way to keep spammers from harvesting our email addresses there?
> 
> Cheers!

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