>The following SPAM made it through the SPAM filter and SPAM detector to
>Museum-L. It appears that the message originated on the newsgroup and made it
>through. Is there anyway to filter out messages that start with a dollar sign?
>I have seen several SPAMS that have made it through that are similar to this
>one.
 
John:
 
First, there was and is no SPAM filter per se.  There are
various techniques that both LISTSERV and a list-owner (can)
use to help AVOID SPAM, but none of them are 100 % accurate.
The one that occurs w/o list-owner involvement did NOT apply
to this case, because it did not represent a mega
distribution (multiple LISTSERV-based lists).
 
A technique that is used by list-owners is to set their list
definition so that only SUBSCRIBERS may post, instead of all
of the world.  You have it setup for world-posting (though
with a NETNEWS gateway, this does not apply).
 
Finally, in this specific case, the SPAM came from Usenet
via the NETNEWS-mail gateway.  Your going to have to decide
if it is worthwhile to have Usenet-ers have access to your
list.  Jim McIntosh recently responded to a BIT.ADMIN
inquiry (see append) on how to moderate them.  Remember:
Usenet is Usenet, and e-mail is e-mail i.e, they are
different systems w/ different controls.  The intersection
of the two are Usenet-mail gateway(s).
 
>Path:
>lynx.unm.edu!newshub.tc.umn.edu!fu-berlin.de!news-ber1.dfn.de!news-lei1.d
>fn.de!news-nue1.dfn.de!news-mue1.dfn.de!news-stu1.dfn.de!news-kar1.dfn.de!news
>-
>koe1.dfn.de!news.rwth-aachen.de!news
>Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
 
--  co-owner:   INFOSYS, TQM-L, CPARK-L, ERAPPA-L, JANITORS, LDBASE-L, et -L
URL:mailto:[log in to unmask]                "I get paid by the millisecond"
 
*
*  Museum discussion list
*
*  Review= Private    Subscription= Open,Confirm         Send= Public
*  Daily-Threshold= 80
*  Notify= Yes        Reply-to= List,Ignore
*  Validate= No       Ack= Yes
*  Errors-To= [log in to unmask]
*  Notebook= Yes,E:\FTP\LISTS\MUSEUM-L,Weekly,Public
*  Newsgroups= bit.listserv.museum-l
 
<append>
 
Path:
psuvm!news3.cac.psu.edu!howland.erols.net!swrinde!news-relay.us.dell.com!paladin
.american.edu!dial29.dialin.american.edu!user
From: [log in to unmask] (Jim McIntosh)
Newsgroups: bit.admin
Subject: Re: Gateway allow for closed lists?
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 21:44:46 -0500
Organization: The American University
Lines: 33
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
References: <[log in to unmask]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: dial29.dialin.american.edu
X-Newsreader: Value-Added NewsWatcher 2.0b22.0+
 
In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] (Wayne S.
Mery) wrote:
> Does the Gateway at AMU allow for a list to be set to
>   'postings by subscribers only'
> and still allow postings to originate  from the newsgroup side?
>
> I ask because of increasing spammage send to the mailing list, I'd like to
> 'close' the list.  I've been told there is software that allows
> the gateway to support this change.
 
The thing most people do is to change the newsgroup to be moderated, and
to specify the list as the address for submissions. This will cause all
posts (those from list subscribers as well as usenet readers) to arrive at
the same point -- the list address. All the normal tools available to the
list owner are then available. You do things such as change the list to
"Send=Private" or review certain peoples' posts.
 
Two notes. When someone posts to a moderated newsgroup their news software
detects this fact and mails the post *from them* to the address given for
submissions (possibly by way of a "mailpath" site). This means posts come
from the author and not the gateway. For moderated newsgroup the gateway
is really only processing approved posts from the mailing list to the
newsgroup. All posts coming from the list are assumed to be approved.
 
Secondly, the process to set a newsgroup takes a while and some posts from
people on usenet may be lost if made in the middle of the process. You
just need to warn the people who follow your newsgroup of this fact. Their
posts will be delivered correctly if they mail them to the list while the
newsgroup is being set to moderated.
 
Jim McIntosh ([log in to unmask])
The American University
Washington, DC USA 20016-8019