Re: Request: Limit LSM postings to subscribers!

crispinat_private

Greg KH wrote:

>>LSM had a perfect signal:noise ratio when we used a closed list, but 
>>LKML politik forced the imperfect approach of "open/filter" on us :-/  
>>We're doing the best we can to filter, but this has been a very bad month.
>>    
>>
>Oh, come on, tell us how you really feel about kernel developers...
>
I feel fine about kernel developers, but I have always been mystified by 
the level of anger that a "closed" list (one where non-subscribers posts 
get trapped for human moderation) generates. Yes, I'm aware that at 
least one list maintainer abused the human moderation to filter posts he 
didn't like. But I would ascribe that kind of anti-social behavior to 
the individual and not generalize it to "closed lists are *bad*."

So what is it that PO's so many kernel developers about closed lists? 
The above pathology, or something else?

>You don't see me, or any other kernel person complaining about the spam
>here (well, I did ask Chris in person why you all aren't just filtering
>out HTML email, as that's real simple to do, but that was just a
>suggestion.)
>
We're using Spamassassin. We don't want to be spamassassin developers. 
Perhaps there should be a "mailing list" flavor of spamassassin rules, 
that waaay ramps up the penalties for various forms of list-hostile 
syntax, such as HTML.

OTOH, I'm not so sure that would help. Looking at recent archives 
<http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/index.html> 
I see:

    * A metric butt-load of Sobig.F
      <http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/4764.html>
      and associated bounces
      <http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/4794.html>.,
      which have now been blocked. Good thing too, as the Sobig traffic
      went *up* a lot after we put in the block. An amazing number of
      Windows users apparently care about LSM enough to have it
      bookmarked somewhere.
    * Normal traffic.
    * Complaints & discussion about virus traffic.
    * Some actual spam:
          o plain text
            <http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/4805.html>
          o plain text
            <http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/4779.html>
          o plain text
            <http://mail.wirex.com/pipermail/linux-security-module/2003-September/4808.html>
            ... can't find any HTML spam. Probably because of the HTML
            filter Chris mentioned.

>>What do e.g. linux-usb and linux-hotplug-devel do about spam?
>>    
>>
>I have a set of mailman filters that I have offered to your admins many
>times in the past that filter out html messages, and a lot of other crap
>that obviously does not belong on the list.
>
That sounds like a good idea. Send me a pointer and I'll put them in myself.

Thanks,
    Crispin

-- 
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.           http://immunix.com/~crispin/
Chief Scientist, Immunix       http://immunix.com
            http://www.immunix.com/shop/

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