The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

>
>Yeah, I know... it's a bugger nowadays, running a list.
>
>- Peter

The spamming scheme used to post these  type messages can be stopped very
easily by the list moderator. All the moderator has to do is  change the
group setting for new memberships. Right now it is set to automatically
accept new members.  The spammers look for groups with this setting. They
can join and send spam and if deleted, they rejoin under another name.
Change the setting so that each application for membership  goes into a
pending mode first. The Moderator receives an E mail notice each time
someone applies to join, the moderator just clicks a simple "approve"
button to allow them in. The spammers will not bother with groups set in
that mode.

 The change in setting has absolutely no effect on current members or the
way the group operates in terms of message posting, file upload/download,
etc.

Mike Berman
digiboy@...

On Fri, 29 Nov 2002 03:09:31 -0500 "Mike B (digiboy)" wrote:

> The spamming scheme used to post these  type messages can be stopped very
> easily by the list moderator. All the moderator has to do is  change the
> group setting for new memberships. Right now it is set to automatically
> accept new members.  The spammers look for groups with this setting. They
> can join and send spam and if deleted, they rejoin under another name.
> Change the setting so that each application for membership  goes into a
> pending mode first. The Moderator receives an E mail notice each time
> someone applies to join, the moderator just clicks a simple "approve"
> button to allow them in. The spammers will not bother with groups set in
> that mode.
> 
>  The change in setting has absolutely no effect on current members or the
> way the group operates in terms of message posting, file upload/download,
> etc.

True. I'm a little worried, though, that this would increase the barrier
for genuine users to join. And if someone does join, you have no control
over inappropriate mails unless you decide to moderate new users' messages.

- Peter
-- 

Watch your favourite TVM programmes whenever you like!
Xarabank, Ganni u l-Bqija, Tista' Tkun Int, Tertuqa 35, Ideat, Naturambjent, Waltzing Matilda...all available on-demand on www.di-ve.com!

It's a bit more work for the moderator, but it's worth it. This is BOT
shit and will keep happening if left unchecked.

Scott

"Mike B (digiboy)" wrote:
> 
> >
> >Yeah, I know... it's a bugger nowadays, running a list.
> >
> >- Peter
> 
> The spamming scheme used to post these  type messages can be stopped very
> easily by the list moderator. All the moderator has to do is  change the
> group setting for new memberships. Right now it is set to automatically
> accept new members.  The spammers look for groups with this setting. They
> can join and send spam and if deleted, they rejoin under another name.
> Change the setting so that each application for membership  goes into a
> pending mode first. The Moderator receives an E mail notice each time
> someone applies to join, the moderator just clicks a simple "approve"
> button to allow them in. The spammers will not bother with groups set in
> that mode.
> 
>  The change in setting has absolutely no effect on current members or the
> way the group operates in terms of message posting, file upload/download,
> etc.


-- 
~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
  Visit the the home of Hebephrenic, The Hot Buttered Elves, & Sunshine

                     http://www.tapehissrecordings.com

          and our sites at the world's largest online cut-out bin

                     http://mp3.com/hotbutteredelves
                       http://mp3.com/hebephrenica
                    http://mp3.com/sunshineallthetime

                ....and for a whole new kind of music....
                         http://www.tapegerm.com
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>On Fri, 29 Nov 2002 03:09:31 -0500 "Mike B (digiboy)" wrote:
>
>> The spamming scheme used to post these  type messages can be stopped very
>> easily by the list moderator. All the moderator has to do is  change the
>> group setting for new memberships. Right now it is set to automatically
>> accept new members.  The spammers look for groups with this setting. They
>> can join and send spam and if deleted, they rejoin under another name.
>> Change the setting so that each application for membership  goes into a
>> pending mode first. The Moderator receives an E mail notice each time
>> someone applies to join, the moderator just clicks a simple "approve"
>> button to allow them in. The spammers will not bother with groups set in
>> that mode.
>>
>>  The change in setting has absolutely no effect on current members or the
>> way the group operates in terms of message posting, file upload/download,
>> etc.
>
>True. I'm a little worried, though, that this would increase the barrier
>for genuine users to join. And if someone does join, you have no control
>over inappropriate mails unless you decide to moderate new users' messages.
>
>- Peter
>--

It's not really a serious barrier if you attend to the approval messages
promptly. All that happens is that a potential member, intead of getting
immediate approval, gets a message saying they are now on "pending" status.
At the same time you, the moderator, receive an Email notifying you that
someone has applied. You just hit an approval option and they are in.

You don't really need to moderate the messages any more than you do now.
You don't even need to check into  new member's authenticity. The  spammers
don't bother with groups that are set in the "pending approval"  mode. Just
thought you should know about this anyway. I have a small group too and it
has worked out fine. I'm also on another list that lost it's moderator so
they couldn't change the setting. They got so fed up with this spamming
scheme that they created a new list with these settings and everyone moved
over to it...no more spam...

personally, the spam doesn't bother me that much, I've gotten so i can tell
the phoney messages by those gibberish member names. I just see others
complaining so I thought you might want to know.

Mike Berman
digiboy@...

All,

>It's a bit more work for the moderator, but it's worth it. This is BOT
>shit and will keep happening if left unchecked.

As a former moderator of another fairly large group (over 500 members), I can tell you that ANY solution is not necessarily a "bit more work" for the moderator(s).  The only options are 1) moderate new members; 2) deny new membership, pending approval; and 3) close the list to new members.  Options #1 and #2 are a little work for a little group, more work as the group gets larger.  Option #3 is no work for the moderators, but no removes the open nature of the list.  I believe that Jon is using option #1, which requires him (or a co-moderator) to look at all moderated messages, and approve or delete them.  That's easy if you are sitting at your computer all day, and don't have a lot to do, but if you have other things on your plate, it's a pain in the rear.  It's very easy to accidentally approve the message, which is what appears to have happened.

>> >Yeah, I know... it's a bugger nowadays, running a list.

Absolutely true!

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions\ufffd   http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389  voice/fax
bruce@...

Ouch, my reading thingy got hurty because somebody sent bad old spam to my
computer....

((former system admin's advice: FIND THE DELETE KEY - USE IT))

[That is all.  Dismissed.]
Ed Edwards
Leader: Ezekiel's Wheel      \ufffd\ufffd\ufffd\ufffdRetro-Progressive Rock\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd
http://www.untiedmusic.com/ezekiel
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/227/ezekiels_wheel.html
\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd.\ufffd\ufffd

--- In AN1x-list@y..., Bruce Wahler <bruce@a...> wrote:
> All,
> 
> >It's a bit more work for the moderator, but it's worth it. This is 
BOT
> >shit and will keep happening if left unchecked.
> 
> As a former moderator of another fairly large group (over 500 
members), I can tell you that ANY solution is not necessarily a 
"bit more work" for the moderator(s).  The only options are 1) 
moderate new members; 2) deny new membership, pending 
approval; and 3) close the list to new members.  Options #1 and 
#2 are a little work for a little group, more work as the group gets 
larger.  Option #3 is no work for the moderators, but no removes 
the open nature of the list.  I believe that Jon is using option #1, 
which requires him (or a co-moderator) to look at all moderated 
messages, and approve or delete them.  That's easy if you are 
sitting at your computer all day, and don't have a lot to do, but if 
you have other things on your plate, it's a pain in the rear.  It's very 
easy to accidentally approve the message, which is what 
appears to have happened.
> 
> >> >Yeah, I know... it's a bugger nowadays, running a list.
> 
> Absolutely true!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -BW
> 

Well,this has been a pretty thoughtful discussion - and Bruce is 
correct: we are using Option #1 - moderating new members.

When this plague of spambots subscriptions first started some 
months ago we promptly changed the list options before it got 
out of hand. I made some effort to report each offense to Yahoo! 
and provided them as much detail as requested so that perhaps 
they could take some action. After about a dozen incident reports 
in a months time I said 'forget it' and stopped reporting the 
incidents - from then on we (the list moderators) have simply 
been deleting the offending posts before they go through. I think 
I've deleted maybe one or two non-related spam posts but the 
overwhelming majority have been identical to the one I accidently 
let through the other day when I fat fingered 'approved' instead of 
'delete' which consequently resulted in this discussion.

Coincidently I'd been considering changing the list options from 
'moderate  new members' to 'approve new subscriptions (option 
#2) to reduce the amount of work required to admininstrate the 
list. As it stand today we have dozens of recent subscriptions 
who are moderated because they do not post to the list - their 
current status does not impair their ability to access the archives 
or Files sections - but when the *do* eventually get around to 
posting a question/comment they still have to be unmoderated to 
allow their email to go through. So, in effect, option #1 requires 
twice the effort to administrate as option #2.

On a side not, I've recently disabled the message archive to 
members only in a vain effort to reduce the spambot atttacks 
(sounds like an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man gone 
wrong, doesn't it?) - this has not eliminated the spam bot 
subscritions - sigh. And while I doubt switching the list options to 
#2 will stop the subscriptions entirely it will reduce the amount of 
time and effort required to deal with this problem.

If anybody has any further questions, concerns or comments 
please feel free to put them forward :-)

regards,

Jon