Chris Bannister wrote:
>> * Remove any email addresses (do not quote the email address of
>> the person to whom you are replying).
>
> I don't understand this. If you can scan the body, you can
> scan the headers, or am I missing something?
If a spammer subscribes to the list, then yes, they can use the headers
to harvest the email address of everyone who posts. However, our
messages also end up on web pages where there are no mail headers.
By searching for old posts, we can see that all vim_use mail is archived
at:
groups.google.com
tech.groups.yahoo.com
www.nabble.com
markmail.org
www.mail-archive.com
article.gmane.org
It so happens that each of these archives uses some method to obscure
email addresses. However, next week, someone could decide that they
would like to set up another archive, and they might not bother to
obfuscate addresses. Also, while it's rare, I have seen a blog with a
comment on a vim_use message, and they posted the whole message
including its quoted email address, in plain view.
Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that spammers pay to defeat
captcha on Google Groups and Yahoo, etc. As profitable avenues for
spammers dry up, who knows what they will do next? Perhaps they might
pay for a system that harvests all the obscured email addresses from
archived mailing lists.
Other lists have similar recommendations, for example:
http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PCYMTNQREAIYR
Please Configure Your Mailer To Not Quote
Raw E-mail Addresses In Your Replies.
Finally, I would recommend an application of common sense (this is not
aimed at Chris). When replying to a public mailing list, it would be
unwise to include anyone's home address and phone number. It's just
polite to also not include their email address. Why would you include an
address? If it's too much bother to omit it, why post at all?
John
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