I tend to agree with Mr. Touch, "Spam is definned by content". However, the content complying with "SPAM" comes from a small list of people. People, who are, in general, not signed up for the IETF mailings. By placing a guard on the incoming lists, restricting incoming mail to those individuals/organizations/corporations/etc. that recieve messages sent to the IETF lists, Then, by moderating the lists to these users who comply with the morals of the IETF, we can eliminate spam to a near virtual zero. This is one simple, but effective method of controlling spam. My opinion: this, and a combination of filters, would eliminate SPAM. Cheers, Don McMorris, Chief Network Operator, Ospitare Intl. --- James M Galvin <galvin@acm.org> wrote: > > On Sat, 16 Mar 2002, Joe Touch wrote: > > The main issue here is about the rule for the > filter. We all want less > spam. The difference is: > > - to me, spam is defined by content > > - to you, spam is defined by user > and assumes a correlation between user and > content > > I almost agree with your distinction but I want to > make one clarification. > > To me, it's not that spam is defined by user, it's > that non-spam is > defined by user. > > What this means from an implementation point of view > is that non-spam is > almost trivial to configure and then more or less > runs itself, or at > least distributes the management to the subscribers. > Thus the > cost-benefit ratio for this particular spam control > mechanism is > negligible from the point of view of the *volunteer* > list host. > > We have to remember that the bulk of IETF mailing > lists are hosted and > managed by volunteers. All mechanisms other than > correlation by user > have a labor intensive component. Such mechanisms > are not excluded but > they are impractical for volunteers. > > While I agree that "user ease" is of paramount > concern, I do not believe > it is a priority concern considering how the IETF as > an organization > "manages" its mailing lists. Now, if you want to > talk about > centralizing the management of the IETF lists, then > the priority concern > issues can be different. > > Jim > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards® http://movies.yahoo.com/