[KLUG Members] SpamCop

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> I use relays.ordb.org, which claims to _only_ list open SMTP relays.
> Also hil.habeas.com, which claims to _only_ list IPs which have
> violated their whole haiku copyright trick.

I used to use ORDB (gee, is it two years ago already? Wow.)  But they started
having problems where their servers would sort of fade-out and not respond to
queries, and then come back for awhile; that drove us to look for something
else.

> But I have them both set to "/warn" in my exim.conf.  I don't trust
> any DNSBL to block mail outright.
> > I would also note that anti-spam activists are carrying on a kind
> > of war, and aggression (too often labeled "bullying" by those who
> > feel they have no dog in the fight) is how you fight a war.
> That's a good way of putting it.  Sadly, for them, users who just
> want to read their mail are collateral damage.  I've had that bite
> me several times and wasted days or weeks trying to communicate
> with my friends.  So I don't accept that anymore.

I agree (and notably don't use SPAMCop at home), but lets be honest - on a
corporate network the user doesn't have any rights, only privilages.   The only
relevant quest is if they block messages from sites or organizations that 'the
company' is interested in having their employees communicate with.  If they
block savethestarvingbabies.org or gwbushisnotaracist-really-honest.com it just
doesn't factor.

> Client-based bayesian filtering is so good nowadays that there's
> no excuse for any end user to be seeing more than 5-10 spams a
> day.  The rest, your client should be able to send straight to the
> spam folder, and if it can't, get a better client.  Of course that
> doesn't help the sysadmin whose MTA is collapsing under the load.

Or the sys-admin's with a large contigent of users who can't perform 'advanced'
operations like "rename file", "save to directory XYZ", etc...  Interactive
processes simply won't get you anywhere.   We've had e-mail for over a decade,
and I still stun people by showing them they have a folder that contains sent
mail; their eyes get as big as a Baptist's at a Vegas show.