----- Original Message ----- From: "Tab Julius" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > (1) PLEASE turn off autoresponders, or unsubscribe. > (2) If you see an autoresponder, TELL ME, but DON'T reply back to the list > - that just makes more traffic and creates another autoresponder thread.
This made me think about something since I am working on my own mailinglist manager for openLingo: automatically ban anyone who sends the same post to the list 3 times in a row*. Send them a reply saying "you have been banned, click the following link to remove the ban. This has been done because it looks like you have left an autoresponder subscribed to the list." Many auto-responders will only respond once to the same address anyway, so this technique simply bans the lame ones (like James'), which keep sending out the same message, without the need for anyone to inform the list admin. Don't know if this can be done with any of the main standard mailinglist managers, but it's an easy thing to build in if you are writing your own, so I think I'll build this in. BTW: Just noticed something interesting checking the headers in James' emails: they have an "X-Autorespond:" header. Don't know how widely used this header is, but it would make sense for the list to automatically ban posts containing that header. - Robert * A more advanced version would check the references and in-reply-to headers to see if the messages are the same but in reply to different posts, in which case a ban could be enforced on the second post rather than having to wait until two had been sent out to the list. Another thing I would probably add is automatically filtering multiple identical posts, which newbies tend to do occasionally, particularly on moderated lists, because they don't take account of propagation time and think their email was not received. If someone sends the same post more than once (whether or not they are banned for apparently being an auto-responder) then the list still doesn't need to see their post more than once. [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
