[Molvis-list] Drop in use of this list

[Timothy Driscoll]

On Sep 7, 2006, at 12:09 PM, Dan Bolser wrote:

> Timothy Driscoll wrote:
>> On Sep 7, 2006, at 10:58 AM, Dan Bolser wrote:
>>> How much spam gets through the members list? (Or is this an  
>>> 'anyone  can post' list?)
>>>
>> howdy,
>> this list is live-moderated (which means a moderator must approve   
>> every message before it is broadcast, and every subscription  
>> request  before it is activated). our policy is that only  
>> subscribers are  allowed to post. occasionally, we will allow a  
>> relevant post from a  non-subscriber; however, this is strongly  
>> discouraged because it is  extra work for the moderators.   
>> especially since...
>> the amount of spam sent to the list has risen dramatically in the   
>> past few months.  fortunately, such messages are manually  
>> identified  and discarded before they hit the list, so nobody is  
>> the wiser  (except the moderators, who like to complain about that  
>> sort of  thing ;-).
>
> So if I understand correctly, the spam spoofs the identity of  
> people on the list in order to get round the 'members only'  
> restriction?
>
no, this has never happened (not yet, at least).  it is spam from non- 
subscribers that is sent to the list address.  (recall that if an  
email address is available anywhere on the Web, it can be spammed.)   
so generally, we discard any posting from a non-subscriber.  I can  
not recall ever receiving spam from the spoofed email of a list  
subscriber.

this is why we request that you subscribe before posting.  otherwise,  
it is extra work for us to actually read your message before  
broadcasting it.


> If this is the case, you could simply ask people to moderate their  
> own posts by generating an email to the sender allowing them to  
> confirm that they really did want to post something to the list. If  
> the reply address of the email is different from the apparent  
> sender address, then you can simply kill the mail and send a  
> notification to the reply address.
>
this is not necessary as of the current setup; moderation lets us  
tell the 'real' posts from the spam - and eases the burden on the  
poster.


>
> Anyway, the point I am coming round to is that I don't like  
> moderated lists ;-)
>
no worries; I sympathize.


> I think they put people off posting. I am sure there are 10's of  
> people ready to reply immediately saying that they are not put off  
> posting by moderators, but is is just those people who are put off  
> who are the least likely to reply.
>
> Maybe this extra layer of security would only reduce posting still  
> further, but clicking 'reply/send/delete' would not be much harder  
> than clicking 'delete' on the existing 'your email is in a queue'  
> auto reply.

moderation is the only thing between you (all list subscribers) and  
another 4-6 spam messages per day. :-)  in this case, it is the least  
intrusive method for keeping the list spam-free.

keep in mind that we do not moderate for content - in fact, it is the  
rare message from a subscriber that I read before broadcasting.   
usually we can tell from the sender and subject line if it is a real  
post or spam.

hopefully that puts your mind at ease somewhat. ;-)


best,

tim