On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 3:17 AM, harrismh777 <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harmar@member.fsf.org">harmar@member.fsf.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">Steven D'Aprano wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I've noticed that python-list gets significantly more spam than the<br>
> other lists I subscribe to. There's an example below.<br>
</blockquote>
Thanks for that! I missed it the first time, so it is very helpful for you<br>
to forward it. It's especially helpful that you included all the spammer's<br>
URLs, as that will help improve their Google page ranks. I'm sure the<br>
spammer will thank you for your assistance.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Yeah, a couple of good rules to follow for well intentioned citizens:<br>
1) don't feed the trolls<br>
2) don't repackage spam<br></blockquote><div><br>I hope it's clear that reading an email doesn't constitute visiting all of the sites linked in the email and therefore doesn't improve Google page ranks or provide any other tracking information. Also note that the original email didn't have anything like a tracking pixel. Even the urls were just text. They only became links if the readers' email client turned them into links. My email wasn't dangerous or helpful to the spammer in any way.<br>
<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Having said that, either because I was tired or because I dropped my defensive posture, I have messed up on those two little rules more than once.<br>
<br>
It is possible to filter spam very effectively. My mail client has a spam-can based on a multitude of trial and guess rules that with almost oh 97 percent rate puts the right stuff into the can and saves me the trouble of manually filtering it. Granted, I still need to quickly peek through the can files... but this is pretty easy to do... because non spam shows up like a rose among thorns in a spam-can.<br>
<br>
The trouble is that this group does like to debate off-topic stuff frequently (usually its at least edge related to Python) and so who is to tell (as a moderator) what is spam? Well, your example is fairly obvious, but other stuff (even like this note) may not be. I don't consider this spam, because its related to this list and because I am interested in the same issue as your OP complaint. But, I am absolutely sure that others will view your note, and mine, as spam... see the problem?<br>
</blockquote><div><br><br>I think we have a generally accepted idea of what spam is, and it's much different from off-topic threads. An automated system might not be able to identify the differences as easily, but a person could. Especially if that person is an active member of the community and reads all of the threads anyway.<br>
<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><font color="#888888">
-- <br>
m harris<br>
<br>
FSF ...free as in freedom/<br>
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-- <br>
<a href="http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list" target="_blank">http://mail.python.org/<u></u>mailman/listinfo/python-list</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br>My intentions were constructive and helpful, but it has gotten a little out of hand. Based on some of the information provided, my idea might not be technically feasible anyway. So, I won't be reading or commenting on this thread further. I am truly sorry for any misunderstandings or time lost.<br>
<br>--<br>Ghodmode<br><a href="http://www.ghodmode.com/blog">http://www.ghodmode.com/blog</a><br><br>