At 4:35 PM -0400 2006-08-11, Barry Warsaw wrote:
Although I have not implemented it yet, Mailman 2.2 will definitely get auto-moderation. IOW, should a non-member send a message to a mailing list, and if that mailing list is so configured, Mailman will hold the message and send a message to the From address asking for verification of the post. I'm assuming this is what you mean by "auto-moderation".
I'm confused. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're talking about, Mailman 2.1.x already does this today. You try to post to a list that is restricted to subscribers only, and then your message may be rejected, or you may get a message saying that the post is being held for moderation, or it may get silently thrown away, etc.... It all depends on how the listowner has configured things, but to this level, this kind of thing works today.
I'm not worried about joe-jobbing because Mailman could easily send just one auto-moderation message per unit of time, or number of posts to limit any backspamming.
Okay, now that's different. This actually clicks in very well with the recent article I wrote on fighting spam for publication on the LOPSA website, because backscatter has become one of my biggest hot buttons lately. Putting an intelligent limiter on the potential causes of backscatter (like no more than one notice per recipient per day, or whatever), brings it down into the realm of what I would consider to be less than ideal but at least below the threshold of "totally unacceptable".
-- Brad Knowles, <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755Founding Individual Sponsor of LOPSA. See <http://www.lopsa.org/>.