[epub] About addresses in posts READ

[epub@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

At 02:43 PM 9/13/2003 -0700, Mark R. Kenny wrote:
> Janet--is there no way to add the poster's address to their message.  I
> think the lack of signatures is confusing many of us.

From the epub moderator:

I have been testing the method of using the posting address as the "from" 
address in epub posts for a week now. What is the group's opinion? Keep it 
or go back to the old method of using group members' addresses in the 
"from" line?

I changed the feature because we were getting too many challenge-response 
requests from members who are using Spam Assassin, Mailwasher, 
MailFrontier, Mailblocks and the like without whitelisting group addresses. 
Because there are over 1,000  epub members -- although 99 percent of them 
don't post -- it's not practical to expect these members to whitelist every 
address.

However, it's also not fair to group members to require them to verify 
their addresses. Several of you have asked that we unsubscribe anyone who 
uses a challenge-response spam-blocking service, and I am ready to adopt 
that position if group members wish it.

The advantage of keeping epub@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will allow people 
using this service to whitelist just one address.
It also reduces the chance that someone's ISP will object to the poster's 
sending domain, even though the post originates from our mail server. Also, 
there's less chance someone on epub will be able to collect and use 
addresses for spamming or other unwelcome contact. (Small chance, but it 
has happened.)

The disadvantage, as Mark pointed out, is that if members don't include 
their email addresses in their posts, you might not know who sent the post 
or where to respond. I did ask all group members to include their email 
addresses, but this hasn't happened.

So, the big question: Do we go back to the old address system and get rid 
of anybody who sends an address-verification request? Do we go back to the 
old system and ignore verification requests if we don't feel like doing 
them? Do we keep the system now and ask people to include their email 
addresses?

What's  your pleasure? You can email me privately ( 
mailto:janet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ) or to the list if you have reasons to 
share with the group.

May I also suggest for the people who are using challenge-response (address 
verification) that you get a free email address (Yahoo or Hotmail) for epub 
correspondence. Set the junk-mail filter at moderate instead of at the 
highest level, or you won't get any email.

If the group votes to drop anyone using address verification without 
whitelisting, and if someone forgets and sends out a verification request, 
I'll give you a warning before unsubscribing you.

If this is all horribly unfair, let me know. I'm trying to walk a middle 
line here. I don't want to lose good members, but I also don't want to 
inconvenience the group.

Janet



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