[conspire] Mailing list servers and the spam problem

[Scott DuBois]

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 02:48:46PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Just to set expectations, you _can_ set it up and let it run totally
> automatically, and everything will work pretty much fine.

Well, work on it. I'm still weighing the validity of the project while still
sustaining it's development although now geared in the direction of Exim4 and
the J.P. Boggis instruction set with Marc's SA-Exim. 

> > Donating my time is one thing, footing a financial obligation on a
> > recurring bill is another.
> 
> This is indeed the concern.
> 
> Sometimes, you find someone who's willing to let you put a machine on a
> rack the person's already paying for and has extra room, or who's
> willing to let you have a VM for free, or who has extra IP fixed
> addresses on an aDSL line.  

I haven't met that person yet and although it _could_ happen, the bill is still
on me in the interim.

> Look at the situation from that person's _own_ perspective.  He or she
> (let's call her Ms. Colo) needs to make sure that the guests (let's call
> them SVLUG) aren't going to become a problem.  Which means Ms. Colo has
> to trust the SVLUG server operators going forward not to do crazy
> incompetent stuff.

I realize as much and I would _whole heartedly_ have the same concerns and
reservations. As such, I'm not holding my breath that anyone is going to offer
up any alternative options any time soon.

> What would be crazy incompetent stuff?  Examples:  (a) The officers
> subscribing to a metric ton of mailing lists and then walking away.
> (b) Hosting big video streaming files.  (c) Screwing up server setup and
> accidentally (or on purpose) operating an open mail relay or Web proxy.

Or, in a nutshell, anything _stupid_ that would compromise the integrity of the
service or infrastructure. Just because comeone "can" doesn't give them free
reign "to" and "With great power comes great responsibility." I'm always amused
with how some people start doing _stupid shit_ as soon as they get the slightest
bit of credentials that allow them to do so. 

> Any Ms. Colo who might grant that favour would end up making the same
> sort of calculation.

As would be expected from anyone with "half a wit".

-- 
Scott DuBois           "If you can't explain it simply, you
BSIT/SE	                don't understand it well enough."
EFF ID: 1731778                                 -- Einstein



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