On Mon, 5 Jun 1995 00:36:49 EDT Ben Chi <[log in to unmask]> said:
 
>We've just installed 1.8b and it's failed its first anti-spam test. (And
>the Subject:  line even said  "ADVERTISEMENT"!-) Have we failed  to turn
>some feature on?
 
It order to stop a spam, your server must either detect it on its own, or
receive  an alert  from another  server  *before* it  receives the  spam.
Unfortunately, with the current BITNET  situation the latter is realistic
only for TCP/IP  servers. It isn't unusual for LISTSERV  to go offline at
core sites during peak  hours, and in fact one of  the largest core sites
recently reported  that their  LISTSERV was  offline 5  1/2 hours  on the
average weekday. With that kind of delay,  there is no hope for alerts to
propagate quickly enough  over BITNET to be effective.  So, for practical
purposes, and  for US sites,  the spam has to  be detected by  the (1.8b)
servers  in your  region, since  crossing the  core can  take hours.  The
detection process always  involves letting a few copies  through. You can
only  suspect a  spam once  you  have seen  a certain  number of  copies,
otherwise  it's just  an ordinary  message. LISTSERV  doesn't attempt  to
filter messages based on the contents, because this would result in a lot
of false positives.
 
  Eric