UCE blockers, and replys again

From: Steve Marak samarak at gizmoworks.com> on 2005.03.06 at 06:07:52(12770) Aroiders, Please pardon the non-aroid intrusion, and it's length. Replys: as mentioned (many times) before, Aroid-L is set such that if you just reply to a post, your reply goes not to the sender of that post, but to the list. We try to catch anything that goes to the list accidentally, but (a) we're not perfect, (b) sometimes it's hard to tell, and (c) this will cause a significant delay to your post. (If it's not clear in one quick glance that the post is meant for the whole list, then it has to wait until there's time to read it a few times, decide if it's personal, then figure out who it's intended for, try to find their e-mail address, and forward it on to them. Lately I don't have time to do all that but about once a week.) The incidence of such posts has gone up again lately, so it's time to repeat the mantra. UCE blockers: UCE, or "unsolicited commercial e-mail", is better known by the name of a well-known meat product which rhymes with "ham". (I'm avoiding the term because some people's blockers are set so over-sensitively that the word itself causes a message to be blocked.) Periodically we have a problem with someone who gets so fed up with UCE that they purchase one of several packages which use a "challenge-response" scheme - when you send them something, they don't get it. Instead, you get a message back asking you to go through some procedure to basically ensure that you are a real person and not a mass mailing program. I hate these programs; they, along with HTML postings and large attached files and simply inappropriate posts, are the banes of a listowner's existence. Don't get me wrong, I hate UCE. And I'll bet I get more of it than anyone on this list, between the hundreds of e-mails I get every day for myself, plus for Aroid-L, plus professionally, across a half-dozen e-mail addresses. The problem with these programs, from my standpoint, is that if someone on Aroid-L uses one of these programs, then - because posts from Aroid-L show up with the name of the actual sender - everyone who posts to the list winds up with this strange message from someone they may not even know asking them to go through some weird procedure so that the someone can receive e-mail from the poster. If you change e-mail addresses - as people do constantly - you'll be asked to do it again the next time you post. I've even seen 2 people using such programs (from different vendors) get into a standoff, where both programs were requesting the other person to do something but neither person was aware of it because the other program's request had been blocked by their program. So, 2 things re UCE blockers: if you use one, then PLEASE read up on how to set it to accept all posts from any mailing lists you are on, regardless of the apparent sender. The information is in the e-mail headers, and you may have to read a little to find out how to do it, but the other list subscribers will appreciate it. Not just of Aroid-L, but of any mailing list you to which you belong. (Perhaps I should mention here that I have a strict policy - I never ever follow the directions in posts that appear to come from UCE blockers, for several reasons.) The other: I'm going to be experimenting with some list settings over the next day or two, to see if I can help this problem a little. Rather than seeing my name as the sender, for instance, you may see a generic term like "Aroid-L". If I decide to make any change permanent which seems likely to significantly affect what people see, I'll send out another administrivia post to let you all know. Again, sorry for the side trip. Steve +More -- Steve Marak -- samarak@gizmoworks.com _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: bonaventure at optonline.net on 2005.03.07 at 02:25:27(12775) I haven't gone over all my e-mails over the last 24 hrs, but I hope all responses for my spare offsets have been private as I requested (the first 6 were, thank you). Sorry, but all Amorphophallus mossambicensis offsets have been spoken for. I'll wait till weather rises above 40F nights here consistently to ship. Bonaventure +More ----- Original Message ----- Date: Sunday, March 6, 2005 1:07 am Subject: [Aroid-l] Administrivia: UCE blockers, and replys again > Aroiders, > > Please pardon the non-aroid intrusion, and it's length. > > Replys: as mentioned (many times) before, Aroid-L is set such that > if you just > reply to a post, your reply goes not to the sender of that post, > but to the > list. We try to catch anything that goes to the list accidentally, > but (a) > we're not perfect, (b) sometimes it's hard to tell, and (c) this > will cause a > significant delay to your post. (If it's not clear in one quick > glance that the > post is meant for the whole list, then it has to wait until > there's time to > read it a few times, decide if it's personal, then figure out who > it's intended > for, try to find their e-mail address, and forward it on to them. > Lately I > don't have time to do all that but about once a week.) The > incidence of such > posts has gone up again lately, so it's time to repeat the mantra. > > UCE blockers: UCE, or "unsolicited commercial e-mail", is better > known by the > name of a well-known meat product which rhymes with "ham". (I'm > avoiding the > term because some people's blockers are set so over-sensitively > that the word > itself causes a message to be blocked.) > > Periodically we have a problem with someone who gets so fed up > with UCE that > they purchase one of several packages which use a "challenge- > response" scheme - > when you send them something, they don't get it. Instead, you get > a message > back asking you to go through some procedure to basically ensure > that you are a > real person and not a mass mailing program. I hate these programs; > they, along > with HTML postings and large attached files and simply > inappropriate posts, are > the banes of a listowner's existence. > > Don't get me wrong, I hate UCE. And I'll bet I get more of it than > anyone on > this list, between the hundreds of e-mails I get every day for > myself, plus for > Aroid-L, plus professionally, across a half-dozen e-mail addresses. > > The problem with these programs, from my standpoint, is that if > someone on > Aroid-L uses one of these programs, then - because posts from > Aroid-L show up > with the name of the actual sender - everyone who posts to the > list winds up > with this strange message from someone they may not even know > asking them to go > through some weird procedure so that the someone can receive e- > mail from the > poster. If you change e-mail addresses - as people do constantly - > you'll be > asked to do it again the next time you post. I've even seen 2 > people using such > programs (from different vendors) get into a standoff, where both > programs were > requesting the other person to do something but neither person was > aware of it > because the other program's request had been blocked by their > program. > > So, 2 things re UCE blockers: if you use one, then PLEASE read up > on how to set > it to accept all posts from any mailing lists you are on, > regardless of the > apparent sender. The information is in the e-mail headers, and you > may have to > read a little to find out how to do it, but the other list > subscribers will > appreciate it. Not just of Aroid-L, but of any mailing list you to > which you > belong. (Perhaps I should mention here that I have a strict policy > - I never > ever follow the directions in posts that appear to come from UCE > blockers, for > several reasons.) > > The other: I'm going to be experimenting with some list settings > over the next > day or two, to see if I can help this problem a little. Rather > than seeing my > name as the sender, for instance, you may see a generic term like > "Aroid-L". If > I decide to make any change permanent which seems likely to > significantlyaffect what people see, I'll send out another > administrivia post to let you all > know. > > Again, sorry for the side trip. > > Steve > > -- Steve Marak > -- samarak@gizmoworks.com > _______________________________________________ > Aroid-l mailing list > Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com > http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l > _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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