Lenny Foner <foner(_at_)media(_dot_)mit(_dot_)edu> writes:
That's a really bad idea... it seems to imply that any random list
participant is going to get a bounce from you the first time they
post, and have to deal with it, etc.
Quite the opposite. I won't activate the filter unless I can gaurantee
that this exact situation will not occur. The only people who should
be getting a bounce are those that mail -directly- to me for the first
time, not those who mail to lists I happen to be subscribed to. This is
the current problem I am trying to solve -- how to make the filter tell
the difference between mail routed throug a list exploder and direct mail.
I was hoping people in this group might have some suggestions...
You may think, "Well, they only
have to take extra steps -once-", but if -everyone- did that, everyone
would have to take O(n^2) extra steps---and that's an enormous amount
of work.
True, if we all started implementing this kind of filter without accomodating
the mailing-list type problem. That is why I'm airing this idea here to
try to get a solution to that specific problem. Perhaps you didn't read
my original posting closely:
I originally wrote:
> [...] The only thing
> I haven't found a good solution for is how to deal with mail you receive
> from mailing lists. That is basically an exception to the rule because
> with most lists the mail will appear to come from the original authors,
> not the list itself, yet you don't want to keep sending rejection letters
> to everyone who posts to the list you are subscribed to (not good, for
> many reasons).
[ additional comments about n^2 behavior deleted ]
(And before you say, "But I'll make it not do anything with
mail to a list!", you have to admit that most of your spam probably
-comes from- lists...
Negative. 100% of the spam I receive is not via lists. It is send
directly to my address (either in the To: or more often as a Bcc:).
I can tell by examining the Received: lines in the header.
[...] and that identifying even a list you know
you're on with 100% certainty is hard, given the vagaries of broken
mail sending programs, etc...)
Again, that is the essence of my current problem: identifying mail from
a list. Feel free to suggest methods if you know of them...
Paul