[Elecraft] Simple-minded SPAM filters vs. list participation

[Rich McCabe]

"My time IS valuable.  I do offer my time to help fellow hams, but for those 
who want to block me, I
will not go to extra measures to provide that assistance."

I am onboard with this philosophy as well. My company provides 
webhosting/email and I can say from experience (and lots of research on our 
end) there are much better solutions than the authentication spam programs.



73,
Rich
kd0zv

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Wilhelm" <w3fpr at earthlink.net>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:25 AM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Simple-minded SPAM filters vs. list participation


> Craig,
>
> Sorry, but I beg to differ with you.  If someone asks me for my help, I do
> not expect to fill out any forms to provide that assistance - and I will
> not.
>
> There are many very good and effective spam filters out there - I use
> Spambayes, and after a very short period of training, I have no false
> positives and all but a very few unsolicited emails are properly 
> classified
> as Junk.
>
> To block all that are not whitelisted is more cumbersome than using a good
> spam filter, and reviewing the 'authentication' list takes much more time
> than training a good filter.  The authentication process takes time on 
> both
> ends.
>
> Note that I have replied to the list only because I expect I would be
> 'authorize requested' if I replied in a personal note - and I will NOT 
> fill
> out the 'form'.
>
> Yes, each of us is the president of our personal 'company', and since we 
> do
> not have a staff to do this task for us, it does take a lot of undue time.
> I may be retired, but I am certainly not idle!!!  My time IS valuable.  I 
> do
> offer my time to help fellow hams, but for those who want to block me, I
> will not go to extra measures to provide that assistance.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>
>> > Please...if you are requesting help, don't insult me by
>> > expecting me to jump through these idiotic processes
>> > that say, in effect, that your time is more valuable
>> > than mine.
>>
>> I'm normally one who doesn't put up with a lot of crap. I just got a call
>> from a company asking me to make sure I've submitted my proxy for the
>> upcoming shareholders meeting. Did you send me the proxy
>> announcement in the
>> mail? Did it give me three different ways to state my preferences (mail,
>> Web, and phone)? Is one of my options to withhold my vote? Then
>> why are you
>> calling me? -- that kind of thing.
>>
>> However, your logic in this post is self-defeating. By refusing to go
>> through the process of being whitelisted, you are saying, in effect, that
>> your time is more valuable than the person to whom you sent the
>> email -- the
>> same accusation you make of him or her.
>>
>> Under normal circumstances these systems are harmless as long as they're
>> working properly. Everyone to whom you send an email should be
>> automatically
>> added to the whitelist so their response is not blocked. Everyone
>> who sends
>> an uninvited email is temporarily blocked. In that case the
>> sender obviously
>> wants their email to go through, so filling out a form to make it
>> happen is
>> not a problem.
>>
>> When replying privately to a post on a list like this one, there's no way
>> you can expect the original sender can pre-approve all list
>> members. So when
>> you choose to reply privately I don't see why it makes sense to complain
>> about having to go through the authentication step. Are you
>> really trying to
>> help a person or is this spirit of helpfulness just a thin veneer over an
>> otherwise cold, dark heart? The latter seems likely if all it takes to
>> discourage you from helping is an email asking you to authenticate your
>> identity. (By the way I'm replying to someone who replied to the original
>> sender, whose message I missed, so I'm not picking on anyone in 
>> particular
>> here.)
>>
>> In my position as president of my company I get a lot of unsolicited 
>> email
>> from customers. In many cases I'm sure if we did the math, my
>> time really IS
>> more valuable than theirs. I like to think that I'm above lording
>> that over
>> them, however, and have no problem doing a little vision test and
>> filling in
>> the numbers on an authentication form.
>>
>> Craig
>> NZ0R
>> K1 #1966
>> K2/100 #4941
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com