Ballew Kinnaman wrote:

> Dear LSTOWN-L Folks,
>
> I have one list under 'lock-down' right now due to
> repeated pseudonymous subscriptions from the
> same banned (Filter=) former member (who,
> incidentally, made legal "sounding" threats without
> supplying their name or legal credentials).

I have not resorted to the filter= technique since it is easily bypassed.

> By lock down I mean subscription by owner,
> with a polite follow-up "confirming" message from
> me personally. The would-be new members must
> reply, which allows me to track their IP back
> to a geographical location in many cases, and
> allowed me to find three attempts (so far) from
> the banned former member.

I'm afraid that this is the route I will have to go for a while until the guilty
parties grow tired of this game.

> I would be delighted if LISTSERV would provide
> me, as the list owner, with the entire header of
> the "ok" confirmation message, however I do not
> know of a way to get it (as a list owner). I
> suspect that only site managers have access to
> the header of the confirm message, right?

AMEN! I would love to see the originating IP in ALL of the email I get. It would
help. Unfortunately there are some free web based email  sites that do not send
that information in their full address header.

> Waste of Time
>
> I *know* that if they really want on, they will
> eventually find a way around this flimsy screen,
> however. All of my lists are set to default review.
> After I'm comfortable, I remove the review by
> hand for active members - lurkers stay on review
> forever.

I will look into review as an option for new members. I will have to run this
past my fellow listowners (5 of us). I certainly don't want to keep people on
review for very long though. Just too much hassle.

> Right now the biggest hole in this screen is
> AOL.COM, because they do not supply clear
> IP addresses that I can track back to a
> geographical location in many cases.

All national/international ISPs can allow a person to defeat their location by
simply calling long distance to another city or worse if they allow shell
accounts, telneting to another server. The long distance idea isn't too
expensive if you only use it to post pre-prepared messages. (pre-prepared? is
that re-redundant?)

> Slim Advantage
>
> The primary advantage this screening mechanism
> has is internal satisfaction for me. I know this
> creep has gone through the effort to set up
> alternative IDs and e-mail accounts to get the
> information that was freely available before
> they became abusive and unpleasant. And I
> have some proof of their repeated subterfuge
> and "harassment," if any of their threats come
> to fruition.
>
>   Pax,
> Ballew Kinnaman <[log in to unmask]> 206/463-2322
> Discussion list owner:
> Allergy ---> http://www.Immune.Com/allergy/index.html
> Arthritis ---> http://www.Emissary.Net/arthritis/index.html
> PCHealth ---> http://www.Emissary.Net/pchealth/index.html
> Latex Allergy ---> http://www.Immune.Com/rubber/index.html
> Thyroid ---> http://www.Emissary.Net/thyroid/index.html

Has anyone else heard of a group called "the Regs"? I once ran across a series
of web sites dedicated to this group and if I remember correctly their goal in
life was to destroy various forums on Compuserve by initiating and perpetuating
flame wars. They traded stories snickering at the havoc they were creating. Some
of the attacks were orchestrated by several people. I wonder if these people
have moved on to newsgroups and listservs?
--
Walter Potter