Janes wrote:
> Okay, I know this is kinda far field, but at least it pertains to how to
> regard the "bad manners" of spamming this group and whether we have the
> character and backbone to stand against it. Here's my take on why we
should
> not "take" spamming in the name of freedom of speech:
David,
I agree that spamming should be fought in any way practical.
But it comes down to practicality. Spam, like binaries and OT
discussion, are not part of the charter that formed this *unmoderated*
newsgroup years ago. This group, like all others, was formed by a small
group of usenet readers who collectively agreed upon a charter for the
proposed group. There is a protocol that says any group with a charter
and enough interested persons to meet a quorum (20 or so, IIRC) and news
servers are obligated to include the group on their newsgroup list.
The only ones in charge as I understand it, are the newsgroup providers,
who can filter the messages they receive and pass onto their
subscribers. But as a general rule the number of filters that would be
required to stop spamming activity here over all the groups (which on
newsguy.com numbers in the tens of thousands) is astronomical. Plus,
then it's a he-says/she-says between the "good guys" and "bad guys". So
the news providers don't do much of anything unless the spammer / weirdo
is really causing major problems. For unmoderated newsgroups, that
leaves the usenet users.
So you can reply to spammers, and hopefully they'll take your attacks to
heart and go aways. But most of them are semi-automated bots that are
simply happy to know that their spam has been read and don't care about
your approval. The others are just weirdos who love any attention they
get, negative or positive and feel empowered by getting other people
riled up. Unless that poster has shown a semblance of personality I've
found it's a lost cause to engage a spammer in any way. I personally
don't have time to try fighting off a spammer - the strongest deterrent
is consistently high on-topic discussion.
Yes, it's unfortunate, but the wildness that permitted Usenet to
flourish early on today resembles a cancer that can kill some groups
completely. I take it as it is. If/when it becomes prohibitive I'll
probably focus on moderated webforums or some other form of media, but
I'll stick to Usenet as long as I can.
Dave
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