Subject: spamwar rules of engagement [ was printer supplies ]
To: None <port-alpha@netbsd.org, woods@weird.com>
From: Ross Harvey <ross@ghs.com>
List: port-alpha
Date: 11/03/2000 21:49:58
NetBSD fights mailing list spam with an approach that is calculated to
yield a net benefit. Like the war on drugs, overly aggresive spam nuking
can cause more lossage than a little bit of residual spam.

There are a few more things (bigger nukes) that we _could_ use (e.g.,
allowing only subscribers to post) but we specifically don't because the
consequent aggravation would be more than a tiny bit of residual spam.

I've analyzed the last six months of port-alpha spam. I received exactly
_four_ spam mails via the list, although there is a discussion of one more
that I lost or didn't receive.  The spam discussion (metaspam) volume
completely outweighs the sum total of the spam by 21:4.

In fact, Mr. Greg Woods alone has sent more messages about spam than we
received in spam. :-)

	Ross