> I would like to poll everyone running an open news server as well as the
DNews staff as to some of the best practices that should be used to stop
spamming.
>
> What rules should be set in dnews.conf? With known spam offenders, where
should I put their IP address(es). Can I put them in both filter.dat and
access.conf?
Hi,
I tend to favour filtering (using either filter.dat or the rules based
filtering in later dnews versions). The main reason for this is the
widespread use of dynamic IP addresses - it is likely you will end up
bloking legitimate users while attempting to stop spammers.
If you are going to block based on IP addresses, filter.dat should also
allow you to block posts from upstream servers, while access.conf only
controls local posting. If you put IP addresses in access.conf, you can stop
the spammer from connecting to the service. Putting it in both will give you
the benefits of both methods.
> Cross-posts? I have this set very tight, as the normal poster usually will
not cross post at all. My question is here, though, that DNews seems to let
one post thru before it realizes that it meets the cross post rule or
maximum posts/hr.
If you are running an public server, a 'normal poster' will cross post
messages, and it is generally preferable that they do so rather than sending
myltiple posts to different groups.
- Roydon L.
