At 8:29 PM -0700 1/28/99, Lazlo Nibble wrote:
>> The point and I believe the point of the original message in this
>> thread is that sometimes those of us who actually play by the rules get
>> nailed because some crazed lunatic doesn't have anything better to do with
>> their time than run a blacklist.
Like this never happens in real life, and it's unique to the internet? (not!)
Look, basic reality: sometimes the systems don't do teh right thing,
for the best of intentions. Systems aren't perfect. Processes fail.
There are special conditions where Stuff Happens.
It's a real b?tch if you get nailed by one of these, too. I'm not
minimzing that. But that doesn't mean the systems are bad. Imperfect
to flawed, but not bad. But just like, oh, what happens when you get
a report about a parking ticket because the data entry clerk typed a
license plate in wrong -- you get to deal with it anyway.
> Actually I think running a blacklist is one of the better things one can do
> with their time. The RBL has had a significant impact on the amount of junk
> email being puked across the Internet.
Yup. I have some issues with RBL. I've chosen NOT to run it on my
sites. Doesn't mean I think its scum, just means I don't think it's
something I want on my sites. But a while back, much to *my*
amazement, one of my sites ended up on dorkslayers for open relays.
Surprised the h@ll out of me, to put it mildly. And -- dorkslayers
was right, because of a really obscure glitch in my sendmail
configuration. Really, really obscure. Took me three bloody days to
find and fix, but the bottom line was, dorkslayers was right, and it
got fixed.
> If you think the right of people to
> send junk email is more important then the right of people to control their
> own servers
The bottom line is really rather simple -- everyone has the right to
choose what's best for THEIR system. Don't like RBL? Don't run it.
Don't pay attention to them if RBL blackholes you. That's your right.
But you can't accept this as YOUR right, and not give others the
right to do what they want, too. Can't have it both ways -- if they
can't force you to do it their way, you can't force them to do it
your way. So if you choose to ignore RBL, you live with the
consequences of losing email access to sites that DO subscribe to
RBL. That's THEIR right. Nobody has to accept email from anyone.
There's no right there -- just a large collection of interacting
priviledges.
I just blackholed a site yesterday (optonline.net) because a user has
been trolling lists and sending physical and abusive threats to me --
and the postmaster and admins have never bothered to respond to any
email, much less do something about it. I don't need this, so the
site has gone away (the user also was sending from hotmail, and the
hotmail folks have been responsive. At least they TRY to keep their
world clean, folks...). There's no rule that says I have to accept
mail from anyone for any reason. Just like there's no rule that says
you have to accept mail from me.
You want me to accept your mail? Play by rules we both agree with. If
that's RBL, that's RBL. If you don't want to play by those rules,
accept the consequences. It's not that tough.
--
Chuq Von Rospach (Hockey fan? <http://www.plaidworks.com/hockey/>)
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
<http://www.plaidworks.com/> + <http://www.lists.apple.com/>
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