Re: Official website: Requirements, Contents, Solutions

----- Original Message -----
From: "Julian Mehnle" <j(_dot_)mehnle(_at_)buero(_dot_)link-m(_dot_)de>
To: <spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 7:54 PM
Subject: [spf-discuss] Official website: Requirements, Contents, Solutions


> Hi all.
>
> (I thought I had successfully posted this message on last Monday already,
> but a disk problem, which I'm currently still working to repair, has
> apparently caused my mail server to lose at least half a dozen messages.
> Now that I looked closer, it seems my website proposal was one of them, so
> I'm now sending it again.  Until I get my mail server back up running,
> I'll have to resort to using my work address, in case you wonder.)
>
> As per council resolution #14[1], I have worked out a plan for a new
> official website for the SPF project.  My findings follow.  Please add
> your suggestions and general thoughts.  Please reply in distinct threads
> for "Requirements", "Contents", and "Solutions", and remove the other two
> uninvolved keywords from the subject.
>
>
> Requirements
> ------------
>
> Above all, I think the website must fulfill at least the following
> requirements (in no specific order):
>
>  1. Reliable and secure.
>     The site must of course withstand medium to heavy load, e.g. from DoS
>     attacks, and it must be secure against other sorts of attacks, too.
>  2. Multiple editors.
>     For maintainability reasons, multiple editors must be supported in a
>     convenient way.  At least the council members plus one or more
>     delegated web master(s) should have edit access.
>  3. Informative and concise.
>     The site must have a clear structure, and all SPF-related information
>     must be directly accessible from it.  (See below for a discussion of
>     the contents.)
>  4. Current.
>     The site must be kept current.  Having multiple editors is a good
>     basis for that.
>  5. Cheap (including bandwidth).
>     The site must be affordable for the project, so donations of hosting
>     and bandwidth are probably required.
>  6. Independent.
>     The site must not depend heavily on the goodwill of individual
>     persons.  That is, regular backups must be made and the site's domain
>     must be owned by the project or a person trusted by the community
>     (perhaps Meng?).
NO - I disagree entirely.  Meng has nailed his colours to the MS mast and
should be specifically excluded from being in sole control of *anything* to
do with SPF.  I have offered many domains, and I have offered to move them
as needed.  We only need Meng to point spf.pobox.com at the new website.

7.  Mirrors - the site should be mirrored across the world.








> Contents
> --------
>
> I think the website should contain at least the following information and
> tools:
>
>   * Documentation:
>     * Introduction:  An introduction to what SPF is and where to continue
>       reading.
>     * Vision:  A description of the long-term vision of SPF, sender
>       authentication, and reputation systems.
>     * Best Practices:  Best practices for domain owners, MTA operators,
>       ISPs, and end users.
>     * FAQs
>   * News and Statistics:  News about everything SPF, and statistics on the
>     adoption and accuracy of SPF.
>   * Discussion:  Mailing lists (subscription info and archives), and
>     perhaps moderated "page footer" discussions for certain parts of the
>     site.
>   * Specifications:  The current SPF specification, a list of all the
>     previous drafts (with classifications), and links to SPF-related
>     specifications.
>   * Implementations:  The reference implementation with documentation, and
>     a comprehensive and non-discriminatory directory of real SPF implemen-
>     tations.
>   * Tools:  A wizard for creating SPF records and tools for testing
>     existing records for correctness, robustness, and performance.
>   * Links to professional support:  Where can professional support for
>     deployment and development be obtained?
>   * The SPF Council:  A space for the SPF Council's work, like the current
>     council website[2].
>   * Votes and Elections:  Information on community (at-large) votes and
>     council elections.
>   * Related Solutions:  Explanations on how related solutions (Sender-ID,
>     IIM/DomainKeys, PGP/S/MIME, etc.) fit in the great scheme of things.
>     Links to these related solutions.
>
>
> Existing websites
> -----------------
>
> There are a number of existing websites providing a lot of useful
> information.  Unfortunately, they are separate and not linked well.  To
> provide an overview of the SPF website scene, this is a list of sites,
> including a summary of the sites' respective contents:
>
>   * http://spf.pobox.com (Meng Weng Wong)
>     * News
>     * Statistics
>     * A record creator wizard
>     * Specifications (SPF and related)
>     * List of implementations
>     * Documentation
>       * Overview
>       * Vision
>       * Best Practices
>       * FAQs
>     * Links to other solutions (Sender-ID, etc.)
>   * http://spf.mehnle.net (Julian Mehnle)
>     * Information about the council and its work
>     * Basic news
>   * http://www.schlitt.net/spf (Wayne Schlitt)
>     * Council IRC logs
>     * Specification drafts of the current official specification series
>     * Test suite
>   * http://www.openspf.org (James Couzens)
>     * Community position on Sender-ID
>     * Basic news
>   * http://www.spf-help.com (John Pinkerton)
>     * News
>     * Statistics
>     * List of record creators and testers
>     * Specifications (SPF and related)
>     * List of Implementations
>     * Documentation
>       * Overview
>       * Vision
>       * Best Practices
>       * FAQs
>     * Links to other solutions (Sender-ID, etc.)
>   * http://www.spftools.net (James Couzens)
>     * FAQs
>     * Record creator and tester
>     * Statistics
>     * Header-based SPF checker
>     * Wiki with more stuff (closed)
>   * http://www.libspf.org (James Couzens)
>     * An SPF implementation
>     * Documentation
>   * http://www.libspf2.org (Shevek & Wayne Schlitt)
>     * An SPF implementation
>     * Documentation
>
>
> Solutions
> ---------
>
> There have been multiple offers for the hosting and maintenance of, and
> donation of domains for, an official web site for the SPF project.  Could
> those whose offers still stand please reaffirm their offers?
>
> Based on that, I'd like you, the community, to informally "nominate"
> solutions (i.e. hosting, software to be used, domains).  The council shall
> then, after no more than two weeks of community-wide discussion (i.e.
> around 2005-03-09), choose one of the nominated solutions and implement
> the new official website, possibly delegating one or more dedicated web
> masters (similar to the delegated mailing list masters).
>
> This is my personal nomination:
>
> For the software, I suggest using the enhanced UseMod Wiki software that
> is already being used on the council website[2].  It is Perl-based, simple
> to install on many platforms, very easy to use, and quite flexible.  It
> supports anonymous read-only and authenticated read-write access.  It
> inherently versions the content and provides a public change log.  It also
> has a plugin feature so tools like record creation wizards can be easily
> integrated.
>
> Even though a proper second-level domain may be chosen (I don't have an
> idea yet which one), I'd like to suggest that the new website also keep
> being reachable under the URL <http://spf.pobox.com> since this URL is a
> known quantity.
>
> Julian Mehnle,
> SPF Council Member.
>
>
> References:
>  1. http://spf.mehnle.net/Council_Resolution/14
>  2. http://spf.mehnle.net
>
> -------
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