Re: SPAM Messages

[Toon Moene <toon at moene dot indiv dot nluug dot nl>]

[ I'm sorry, I feel I have to write a rebuttal - I did not just
  reply to the silly SPAM because I liked to have some fun without
  thinking of the consequences ]

Craig wrote you:

From:     Craig Burley <burley@gnu.org>
To:       law@cygnus.com
Date:     Tue, 4 Aug 1998 12:27:04 -0400 (EDT)
Subject:  Spam spam spam spam ... (was Re: Last minute holidays!!)

---

>  Personally, I enjoyed reading these two rebuts to the
>  SPAM we received, but I'd like to quickly note a few
>  things:
>
>    -  NEVER respond to SPAM, no matter *what* the message
>       says about
>       "Remove" instructions.  It is *quite* likely that,
>       by responding, you're simply sending the spammers
>       more email addresses (such as yours) to use and
>       share with (or sell to) all the other spammers
>       throughout the world.

SPAMMERs addressing a mailing list like egcs that's archived on a  
publicly accessible Web server don't have to do that - they just  
slurp up the Web pages and scan for mail addresses.

>    -  If the SPAM you receive came through a list you're
>       on, it is
>       probably best to remove that list itself from the
>       "To" and "Cc" fields, unless your email is really
>       for list members to *read*.
>
>       That is, if *you* don't like SPAM, probably nobody
>       else on the list does, and probably nobody wants to
>       read how upset you are about the spam, because
>       they're already just as annoyed.

OK, I only did it because I thought we could make some fun -  
otherwise, SPAM is boring ...

>    -  NEVER respond to SPAM.  I really mean this.  That's
>       why I
>       repeated it.  If you want to *discuss* things related
>       to the SPAM, this means DO NOT INCLUDE ANY SPAMMER'S
>       EMAIL ADDRESSES IN THE LIST OF RECIPIENTS!!!

See above - they don't have to have your reply.  The best proof of  
this is that at my work address (that I never use for mailing lists,  
USENET use and which only occurs on one Web page, namely the KNMI  
one below) I *still* get about as much SPAM as at home.  And no, I  
never reply to SPAM there.

>  If anyone has a URL or two to point people on this list
>  to, which would describe some of these basic rules and
>  how to handle spamming, (which I don't really know much
>  about), that might be a good idea, but we should probably
>  pass it through the list maintainer first (whoever that
>  is -- the "-request" address, anyway), so we don't end
>  up with 10 people sending the same URLs.

If these URL's just reflect your thoughts above, I think they do  
people a disservice by letting them believe that it helps to use  
"SPAM protected" From: addresses etc.  SPAMMERs buy each others  
mailing list archives.  Once you're on it, you're "doomed" and no  
special trickery is going to save you from more SPAM.

Sorry to be so direct, but there's no use in propagating false  
beliefes of safety.

--
Toon Moene (mailto:toon@moene.indiv.nluug.nl)
Saturnushof 14, 3738 XG  Maartensdijk, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 346 214290; Fax: +31 346 214286
g77 Support: mailto:fortran@gnu.org; NWP: http://www.knmi.nl/hirlam