[DB-SIG] List spam

[akuchlin@mems-exchange.org]

On Tue, Nov 06, 2001 at 09:43:42AM +0100, M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
>I've seen spammers sign up on mailing lists too recently -- they
>seem to have found out how to do this programmatically. In the end

Uh oh... I've requested notifications of all subscribes/unsubscribes
be sent to my mailbox, so I can keep an eye on any suspicious new
members.

>A much better idea would be to add more spam protection to the
>Mailman installation at python.org, so that messages from non-members
>which have a high spam level are first passed to the moderator
>for approval *before* going to the list.

What does "high spam level" mean?  Messages to the list aren't likely
to be sent through an open relay or directly from a dialup, so those
features can't be used for spam detection.  Every member's first post
could require moderation, but that would require code changes to
Mailman.

(Maybe this isn't a serious problem.  Spammers live on volume,
trying to reach as many addresses as possible.  Waiting to receive a
confirmation, responding to it, and then spamming the list will bring
the speed way down, so maybe this more elaborate deception will remain
uncommon because it's uneconomical.)

Anyway, I don't intend to leave the list in members-only mode for more
than a few days or a week.

--amk