A while ago I closed the list so that only subscribers could post
messages, hoping to take care of this sort of thing.
Unfortunately, a lot of people read MapInfo-L via corporate
gateways and web "mirrors", and are not actually subscribed. When
the list was closed, they found that they could no longer post
messages, and they were unhappy. So I made the list public again,
and now we are exposed to spam.
Junk mail tends to grow exponentially, and though it's at a low
volume now, I expect we'll see more. We cannot filter it
automatically at the server, and I don't want to volunteer to do
it manually, so source-filtering is not an option.
Other options to counter spammers involve tracing headers and
elminating the mule servers (these are machines with poor
security that spammers use to deliver their payload), or
attacking the businesses they are trying to promote through
complaints and reporting the illegal scams to the FTC and BBB
(www.ftc.gov and www.bbb.org). This takes a lot more energy than
it seems to be worth, but if you get mad enough, it's a great
channel for anger. You might even nail one or two of the
pinheads. There are also sub rosa options, but we'll leave those
up to anonymous altruists who would rid us of these troublesome
beasts.
For the rest of us, the easiest option is to filter spam on your
own end (using built-in filter tools that come with your mailing
software.) For the ones that still get through, just delete and
forget.
Once the level of spam rises to a point where even that is
intolerable, we can close the list to non-subscribers. It's sort
of a question of balancing pros against cons. We could also move
the list to better server software, and currently we are testing
a new version of majordomo at Direction Magazine. I'll post more
on that as it becomes a real option...
- Bill Thoen
P.S. You seldom get answers to more than one question per
message, but keeping a map window open when you remove the last
layer is not possible directly. The best solution I've seen is to
open an empty dummy layer and never remove that one.
Raymond Rivest wrote:
>
> I just noticed that we received many junk mail recently in the mailing list.
>
> Just wondering, if there are any filters installed so only subsribed
> members can post in the mailing list or is the posting open to anyone ?
>
> It's not that it's that much of a problem now, but it could become one if
> the list is too open.
>
> Any comments ??
>
> In the mean time, does anyone know of a good trick to keep a map opem even
> if you remove the last layer in it ? Or is there a way to force a refresh
> for a raster image.
>
> I'm trying to reload raster layers but the image is not resized properly,
> so the registration is flawed.
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