[Tfug] ANTI-SPAM

[Sam Hart]

My biggest concerns have always been those raised in articles such as 
this:
http://theory.whirlycott.com/~phil/antispam/rbl-bad/rbl-bad.html

I'm not 100% convinced that simply blocking open-relays will solve the 
solution any better. In fact, in the article above, the author mentions 
this as I recall.

I'm aware that spam "costs" more to the recipient than to the sender, and 
I'm aware of the fact that a per-mail filtration system like I employ will 
cost you even more (cost in terms of processing power used)... But I still 
am of the opinion that it's much better/less discriminatory than simply 
using RBLs or blocking open relays.

>   It has the right idea: to get as SPAM at the source. Everybody and his
> mother can install a "spam filter" on their machine, but that doesn't change
> the fact that SPAM robs everybody of bandwidth and personal time that
> could be used for something more productive.
> 
>   There is such a thing a "junk" snail mail and unsolicited commercial
> telephone calls. They will never be as prolific as SPAM because there
> is a media cost for each message. In contrast the price is the same
> weather you send 100 SPAM's or 1,000,000 SPAM's.
> 
>                                                      Cheers,
>                                                      Erich
> 
> 
> Sam Hart wrote:
> 
> >>Has anyone ever used this? http://relays.osirusoft.com/
> >>
> >
> >Phew... that is one poorly designed page (I couldn't make heads or tails 
> >out of it ;-)
> >
> >I personally haven't used it (or even heard of it), but FWIW, I've had a 
> >great deal of luck with SpamAssassin + Vipul's Razor. My results can 
> >actually be found online here:
> >http://geekcomix.com/snh/spam.shtml
> >
> >from there, you can see that since July 2002, I've gotten ~4800 items of 
> >spam, and only 83 items got past my filters.
> >
> >Also, I've been tabulating these results since July 2002, and I will make
> >a graph of them, and probably do some numerical analysis (to see if my
> >rate of spam has increased, decreased, and by how much ;-) So, anyone
> >interested should check back in July 2003 for the results ;-)
> >
> >Anyway, appropriate URLs:
> >http://spamassassin.taint.org/
> >http://razor.sourceforge.net/
> >
> >begin  quote: On 03-02-28, Leo Przybylski wrote:
> >
> >>I am currently evaluating it. I wonder if anyone has any experience with 
> >>it. I have a friend that swears by it, but I really need more/better 
> >>testimonials.

-- 
Sam Hart
University/Work addr. <hart@physics.arizona.edu>
Personal addr. <criswell@geekcomix.com>
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