discuss: Progress on the Anti-Spam HOWTO
Subject:
Re: Progress on the Anti-Spam HOWTO
From:
chris albert ####@####.####
Date:
31 May 2003 18:30:13 -0000
Message-Id: <3ED8F4A9.6000701@mcgill.ca>
Hal
>CVS would be good for a group effort like this. AFAIK, what we need is
>a) a fixed doc title for cvs purposes and then b) each author needs an
>ldp/cvs account to access cvs (I have one now).
>
>So I think the first order of business:
>
> - Decide on Doc title
>
Why not the Anti-Spam HOWTO ?
It would be the first thing I searched for, and has the advantage of
being obvious.
> - Decide doc format (sgml, xml, etc)
>
I am agnostic here, though as I mentioned earlier, I'm using LyX which
has built in support for linuxdoc sgml.
I spent many years writing TeX documents on emacs, and I'm thinking
those days are over. It seems I can import
and export docbook xml 4.2 with a db2lyx add on, and so I'm open to xml.
It really depends on a group consensus,
since I'm sure several people will get involved.
> - Decide doc scope (eg usenet spam, etc....)
>
I was thinking of looking at spam fighting from 3 perspectives: MUA,
MTA, Network Protocols .
Obviously there is a 'higher' level of Legal Issues; though that is
beyond my capabilities, and as long
as there are open smtp relays in countries not subject to the laws in
question, I think practical spam fighting
will need to be done at the three 'technological' tiers mentioned above.
Usenet spam is an interesting and problematic case. First of all, almost
all the research and spam filtering techniques
have concentrated on email. The usenet users population, of which I am
one, is trivial compared to email users. Getting spam filtering right at
the newsreader level could be a daunting task since some people
subscribe to newsgroups like
free.porno.flicks.erik-mouse.duct-tape.k-y-jelly , who might also be
subscribed to , say comp.unix.admin. How to get the filtering right?
Since I never have administered a nntp server, I'm not sure how some
standard methods, like using DNSBL or RBLs might work.
IMHO flaming maniacs are more of a threat to unmoderated newsgroups than
spam, but if someone had things to about the usenet spam problem, they
would be welcome.
> - See who has what areas of interest and divide responsibility among
> authors
> - Make sure we are listed as a "work in progress" with tldp (?).
> - Do an outline
>
This latter step seems important, since structural changes in the doc
are likely to cause the most headaches with cvs commits.
What is the best way to discuss the outline?
In private emails, on this list?
I manage the group that runs the list server at McGill university, and I
could get created a mailing list for the contributors, if that would be
useful.
Eventually, I could find web space for the project once it was up and
running.
Chris
P.S I'll put newsgroups/lists/bookmark sections in the first draft.
