RE: Poll: Should mhonarc.org mail archives hide mail addresses

["Williams, Travis L, NEO" <tlw@xxxxxxx>]

Yes,
	Some method should be provided to obfuscate an address.. I'm not
sure how smart the harvesters are but maybe a couple of different
methods should be done in a round robin fashion so they can't just say..
oh this list uses this type of method and we can always look for that..
even something like changing tlw@xxxxxxx to tlw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or
something of that sort should be enough so they don't bother.. 

Travis

-----Original Message-----
From: Earl Hood [mailto:earl@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 8:47 PM
To: MHonArc List
Subject: Poll: Should mhonarc.org mail archives hide mail addresses


MHonArc Users,

A recent message to the user's list has raised a question about
hiding/masking/obscuring addresses for the list archives.

I am personally against such techniques since the archives help
provide an open discussion forum.  As has been observed by others,
mail archives (of any type of project or topic, not just MHonArc)
also help non-subscribers and their ability to contact list members
to help solve problems.  And with the case of the mhonarc.org list
archives, hiding addresses will disable some archive features like
access to raw mail messages and author-based searching.

With that said, the cost of receiving spam can be high for many,
and it is reasonable to assume that some users choose not to
post to a mhonarc.org list to avoid making their address public
(hence, defeating the use of having such a list).

Therefore, I am taking a poll to see if the nature of the mhonarc.org
mail archives should be changed.  And the poll is not a simple,
"yes, hide addresses, or no, do not hide them."  I am also open
to suggestions and ideas in between.  For example, obfsucation that
does not completely hide an address (javascript techniques are
not acceptable).  And I will take time to see if there are methods
of protecting addresses that minimizes the usage impact of the
mail archives.

Feel free to respond to the list or to me via private mail
with your comments,

--ewh