[Mailman-Developers] Preventing spam to list admins.

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "JRA" == Jay R Ashworth <jra@baylink.com> writes:

    >> I'm generally against putting the -owner/-admin addresses
    >> behind a CGI form, 1) because I've never seen a mail submission
    >> form that doesn't suck hard (it totally bypasses all the
    >> message composition tools I'm used to for all my other email
    >> handling, and usually never gives me a way around the form to
    >> enter into my address book)

    JRA> I want to take a moment here to agree violently.

No need to turn purple there Jay... oh wait "violently", not
"violetly".

    JRA> I *HATE* mail forms, with an unbridled passion.  The worse
    JRA> thing, Barry, which you neglect to mention, is that you don't
    JRA> get a copy in your Sent folder either.  Some cgi's are at
    JRA> least polite enough to CC you, but they're few and far
    JRA> between.

Good point.

    JRA> No: Down With MailForms.

>>>>> "CVR" == Chuq Von Rospach <chuqui@plaidworks.com> writes:

    CVR> So -- how do we do it?

    CVR> Could we create a mini-form that you push a submit button,
    CVR> and it brings up a mail-to link? I think that would stop
    CVR> spambots, no? Any better ideas?

Ug.  Sorry Chuq, but something in me really riles against making the
user go through so many hoops to contact a person.  It reminds me of
endless voicemail menus and seemingly infinite hold times.  Shouldn't
we err on the side of pissing off admins more than pissing off users?
(Granted, reducing the urine splatter on our poor overtaxed admins as
much as possible.[1])

Besides, how long will it be before the harvesters start following
simply form posts?  Won't any form more complicated than a submit
button just infuriate frustrated users even more?

I'd still like to at least try the suggestion I made earlier to see if
that helps stem the most egregious spammers.

-Barry

[1] Sorry. ;)  As my dad is fond of saying: "it's better to be pissed
off than pissed on".