Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 20:54:20 -0500
From: Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave '02 (was Re: minders)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:

> ronkean at juno.com wrote:
> > How does the list software know whether a message comes from a WSFAn?
>
> "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> wrote:
> > Keith has trained a pack a meercats to verify the email.
>
> Close, but not quite.  Actually, I have a list of all known WSFAns'
> names and email addresses.  If one of those names or one of those
> email addresses (or both) appears in the From: line of a message
> directed to the list, the message goes directly to the list.
>
> Otherwise, it goes to me, and if it appears to be legitimate I will
> transparently forward it to the list (i.e. in a way that nobody can
> tell it wasn't automatic except that it took longer than usual) and
> add their address to the allowed sender list.
>
> So no spammer can spam the list unless they:
>
> * Know the WSFAlist at keithlynch.net address (which has never appeared
>   in any newsgroup posting or on any web page).
>
> * Forge the name or address of a WSFA member in the From: line of
>   their spam.
>
> * Do not send their spam in HTML (most spams are in HTML).
>
> * Do not send from any site in the RBL (a blacklist of ISPs that don't
>   promptly terminate spammers), or from Argentina, Korea, or Taiwan.
>
> * Do not relay off any known open relay site.
>
> Of course these measures are only temporary.  The vast, utterly
> mind-boggling flood of trillions (probably soon to be quadrillions)
> of spams will eventually make email unusable.  But I'll do my best to
> keep this list running as long as possible.  Probably as long as ISPs
> continue to provide email at any price.  After that I suppose we'll
> all have to go back to stamps and envelopes and fanzines.

Um, Keith?  Right now well over 90% of my snail mail is "junk mail" -- the
direct equivilent of spam.

There is, however, one major difference:  credibility.

Although I toss the vast majority of the junkmail I get unopened and unread,
I know that it is all from relatively reputable businesses, who invested time
and money in the mailing, and who are subject to postal fraud laws if they've
misrepresented themselves.

Spam, on the other hand, strikes me as utterly untrustworthy.   I ignore even
the offers of cut-rate toner and supplies because I *assume* they are scams
and ripoffs, seeking access to my credit card account(s).  So I delete all
spam without even looking at it (I *never* respond to a spam "remove me from
your mailing list -- click here" because I know that confirms mine is a live
and working address).

Be that as it may, I typically get one to two hundred e-mails a day and the
spam has never added up to even 10% of that, so I think your worries about
e-mail being swamped into unusability by spam is unnecessarily apocalyptic.
If spam continues to increase it will be filtered more vigorously.

--Ted White