mhonarc-users

Re: spam-proofing my mhonarc archive

2003-02-17 11:50:12
Mark Stosberg wrote:
are there typically strong enough reasons to provide email addresses in a publicly available list archive? In my opinion, considering the aggressive spammers: No!

It's not such a clear answer for me. I use a lot of technical mailing lists. I try to be a "good citizen" and search archives of old messages before I ask on the list.
...
Sometimes I find someone who has had the exact same problem I'm having, but never got a response at the time. In those cases, I find it useful to contact the person directly and see if they've found a solution since then.

Undoubtedly a couple of valid points. You are right, there is no clear answer, valid for all situations. And adding 'NOSPAM' is hopefully an efficient method.

I've had a great experience with TMDA filtering nearly 100% of these ( http://www.tmda.net/ ). ... and it doesn't address the issue at its core-- preventing the e-mails from being sent in the first place.

Very true. All too many people post their addresses everywhere, making themselves more or less dependent on various filtering software and/or services.

Personally I have replaced all mailto links on web sites with links to contact forms. I have also started to use a 'noreply' address (which normally is forwarded to /dev/null) when posting to mailing lists and Usenet groups where there is a big risk for harvesting by the spam bots. Instead I provide a contact form link like the one below. Unfortunately this is not (yet) common practice. :)

/ Gunnar

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

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