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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000022.txt from 2007/07
From: Lee Lowry <leel@-----.net>
Subj: [DR-L] Re: List spam
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:28:11 -0400
Ed, (et al.)
What is probably happening is that your chamber music group has been
mined by a spam robot. I am a co-moderator on a hobby/interest technical
Yahoo group and we had to resort to membership by application only,
because we were being mined repeatedly by spam robots looking for fresh
valid email addresses to send their junk. Any Yahoo group that does not
restrict membership in some way is likely to become infected with this
problem sooner or later. There is a Yahoo group for English horn, and
unfortunately it's very poorly managed, I think by a student who seldom
even drops by. I got rid of it when spam from multiple sources started
issuing forth from it.
In the case of the group for which I'm a co-moderator, we will still let
anyone apply for membership but we ask them why they wish to join. It's
not that we really care, but it has so far fooled the robots, who aren't
smart enough to know that they're being asked a question they must
answer in order to gain membership. They always leave the question blank
and we know they're not real and we reject their application.
When joining groups, you may have seen the images with tilted or
distorted numerals or letters in them that you are supposed to enter
correctly on a line--this is another form of robot rejection as it fools
optical scanners, since only a human so far can correctly interpret the
distorted characters.
Our system has worked except that we have probably rejected some non
spam foreigners whose command of English is so weak they don't know what
we're asking. In those cases I look at the Yahoo profile for the
individual and if I can see, as I did with someone this morning, they
are for real and probably have a legitimate interest in our group I'll
let them join. We have had a few human spammers join (usually troubled
folks pushing some strange private agenda, like in one case,
communication with alleged space aliens) but such folks usually spam
only once and then quit the group. If they don't, we ban them anyway.
In your case, look at the group you're concerned with and see if there
are any membership requirements. I'm betting there are not. Then write
to the moderator or list owner and tell them of this problem. I would
guess they don't want this any more than you do, but may not know how to
stop it. Tell them what we did and that so far it has been effective.
People who are serious about their interest in your group will not be
inconvenienced, and even though typical spam is nothing most of us
haven't already seen, it does get really tiresome to encounter it
everywhere.
As far as we know, Yahoo either cannot or will not address this problem
with their groups.
Good luck,
Lee
>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:05:01 -0400
> To: Double Reed List <doublereed@-----.org>
> From: "Ed B. Flowers" <flowerse@-----.net>
> Subject: sexysophia
> Message-ID: <4692327D.4060403@-----.net>
>
> List,
>
> sexysophia3193 is sending me e-spam: "[chamber music] Yahoo Groups -
> sexysophia has sent you ...
>
> Does this have anything to do with my membership to this list?
>
> Do you folks get e-mail like this, or am I just an incredibly attractive
> oboe player?
>
> Edward B. Flowers (ob, EH)
> New York City
>
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