🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <47ecj0$72k@spectator.cris.com>, holloway@cris.com wrote:
> Could someone, perhaps from american.edu, please post something about 
> blocking, and/or cancelling spams in the bit lists?  I've received no 
> response to previous inquiries to news-admin@american.edu.  A filter 
> should be possible for removing spam prior to distribution to our mailing 
> lists.  Could this please be considered?  Who generally takes care of spam 
> cancels in the bit groups?  Are the bit groups included with some 
> newsadmin's cancelbots?

Please describe this proposed filter. At this point we are delaying 
the feed from our news server to the gateway by four hours. This allows
many cancel messages to reach our news server before the posts are 
passed to the gateway. Going the other way, the listserv already has
anti-spam code to stop spams coming from lists and going to newsgroups.

From time to time people have suggested that the gateway not pass any
posts if they are cross-posted to more than one newsgroup. This is the
only enhancement I can think of, but if you have other algorythms you
think might work please describe the process.

Right now we are using Linda Littleton's NETNEWS package to do the
gateway. This is a VM/CMS-based package. Our VM/CMS machine is 
scheduled to be deinstalled at the end of this academic year and so
we will need to move the gateways to a unix platform. Since this
would be new code or a modification to existing code, perhaps that
would be the time to add anti-spam routines if they can be defined.
Linda has stated that she does not expect to enhance NETNEWS any
further so I don't think there is much chance of getting the current
gateways changed.

Who takes care of spams cancels in the bit groups? I do not know.

Are the bit groups included in some newsadmin's cancelbots? Again, I
do not know. Our reason for delaying the feed for four hours is to
allow anyone that does do cancelling (if only for the non-bit groups
we gateway) to do so before the post gets mailed to the mailing list.

> News gateways are becoming a major problem now because of the rise in 
> spam.  We can easily close our lists to mass postings, but short of 
> reviewing every post to the newsgroup, there's nothing list-owners can do 
> about the newsgroup posts. 

Sure there is. Most listowners who care have made their newsgroups
moderated and made the address for submissions be the mailing list
address. This causes ALL posts (both those from newsgroup readers
as well as those from list subscribers) to arrive at the same 
address -- the list address. The normal listserv anti-spam routines
then apply as well as any other controls the list owner chooses to
use (such as "Filter=").

> It's been suggested in my own group that we cut off our newsgroup 
> entirely.  I'm resisting this, but if the spamming becomings any worse I 
> don't see any practical alternative.  I don't have the kind of access that 
> would allow me to easily review and forward all posts.

The way I see it is this: there are advantages and disadvantages to
having a mailing list be available via a newsgroup. The advantages 
including having the posts be removed from your personal mailbox, 
choosing when you want to read the posts (as opposed to having them
intermixed with your personal mail), the ability to killfile certain
posters or sort the posts and then read only ones you choose to read,
and the vastly larger number of people who now can participage in 
discussions. The disadvantages include more and more posts and the
occasional spam. It is for each list owner and group of subscribers
to decide whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
If they do, continue the gateway. If they do now, close it down.

Jim McIntosh (jim@american.edu)
The American University
Washington, DC USA 20016-8019