Suresh Ramasubramanian proclaimed:
> Shridhar Daithankar rearranged electrons thusly:
> > Just imagine if somebody subscribes [EMAIL PROTECTED] to LIH/LIP/LIG.
> > Great... I keep on getting mails from VSNL helpdesk threatening to block my
> > address if I broadcat spam. And this mail is addressed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hi Sridhar -
> Thaths / Atul - correct me if I am wrong - but majordomo currently
> implements a 'confirmation' system where a mail is sent back to the
> address which requests subscription. The actual subscription is
> accomplished only when the guy replies to that address.
>
> That way, [EMAIL PROTECTED] may not be able to subscribe ...
> unless, of course, the subscription does not match the sender envelope
> with the randomized token in the subscription URL ... in which case
> any idiot replying to that subscription request will subscribe
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] to the list.
The mj2 subscribe+confirm mechanism is a bit intelligent. If
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sends a subscribe request to mj2 subscribing
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for some high volume mailing list, mj2 does not send out a
confirmation token. It instead detects the fact the the requestor and the
victim are different and sends the email to the mailing list owner for
confirmation.
As far as I can remember, subscription for this VSNL help desk address was
not one such subscription. There are almost 1000 subscribers to LIH. It
is therefore extremely painstaking for me to find out which VSNL help email
addr is subscribed to the list. I searched for helpdesk@ and was unable to
see it in the subscriber list.
If I am not mistaken, the helpdesk email address is one of those things
that more than one person on VSNL's side reads. My guess is that some well
meaning Linux-oriented VSNL guy subscribed to the LIH list but forgot to
tell the others who read that email addr. The lesser clue endowed people
that are reading the VSNL helpdesk emails seem to think any Linux oriented
query is to them and send out those "Call us up at <some number>" emails.
Thaths
--
"I tell you, the kid's a wonder. He organized all the lawsuits against
me into one class action." -- Homer J. Simpson
Sudhakar C13n http://www.aunet.org/thaths/ Lead Indentured Slave
----------------------------------------------
The mailing list archives are available at
http://lists.linux-india.org/cgi-bin/wilma/LIH
