Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 05:28:36 -0500

From: Natalie Maynor maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU

Subject: Re: Interesting Free Offer...........



back to the original poster it comes back as undeliverable. Anyone out

there know how we can put a stop to this?



(1) We can change the name of the list to something that doesn't start

with an A. Listserv's spam-filter works pretty well, but the problem is

that it works by noticing that the same posting has been sent to X number

of lists (I can't remember exactly what X is, although I've known). It

then starts grabbing the junk mail and sending it to listowners instead

of to lists. That way a listowner can see whether it really is spam.

Almost every piece of spam that shows up on ADS-L has been caught by

the filter long before it gets to Words-L. That's because the spam-filter

works in alphabetical order. Both instances of this weekend's spam were

posted on ADS-L but were bounced to my mailbox as listowner instead of

showing up on Words-L. Since I read personal mail before list mail, I

can usually be pretty sure when I'm going to find spam in the ADS-L mail.

That's because I've already seen a copy of it bounced from Words-L.



(2) We can change the list from 'send=public' to 'send=private'. That

means that only subscribers can post. A dedicated spammer could, of

course, subscribe to the list for long enough to send the spam, but that

probably wouldn't happen very often. If we do change ADS-L to postings

from subscribers only, however, people will have to be careful to send

list mail from exactly the same address they subscribed from.



Although neither is ideal, I would say that (2) would probably be a

better choice than (1). Let me know if y'all want me to make the change.

--Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)