Clytie Siddall wrote:
I hope you won't mind me asking this on the i18n list.
A question like this really belongs on the Mailman-Users list, and followups should go there.
My daughter's email was subscribed without her knowledge or consent to a Mailman list today. I wrote to the list-owners, but it struck me that there probably isn't much they can do about spam registrations.
All the same, I was annoyed that this had happened (I filter my daughter's mail to protect her), and I think other parents and people whose email addresses are abused in this way won't understand that it's not Mailman's fault.
Is Mailman doing anything to protect itself from spammers?
No list (Mailman or not) is completely safe from spam posts unless it is fully moderated. Mailman is just a tool that can be used or abused like any other. If a site allows only trusted people to create lists and all lists require subscription confirmation, that site's Mailman lists are pretty safe from unwanted subscribes. If you encounter a Mailman list that appears to be set up as a spam vehicle, the best approach is to contact the abuse and postmaster addresses at the hosting provider to complain. Of course, if someone has installed Mailman on his/her own workstation or server, there is no direct hosting provider, but the mail is still going out through some service that is either a spammer itself, in which case there's not much you can do, or it is a reputable service whose terms of service are being violated. -- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan