Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com>]

on Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 12:14:12PM -0500, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
> Steven Champeon said the following on 3/25/04 11:56 AM:
> 
> 
> >Tanner, nobody forces anybody to use a DNSBL. That's why they call them
> >"voluntary". Nobody forces /me/ to use them, that's for sure, except the
> >spammers and the companies that host them and the clueless Windows users
> >whose idea of virus protection is an echinacea tablet.
> 
> How about all the people who have accounts with ISPs that force their
> users to use them?

Hey, it's called the free market. Want an ISP that doesn't use spam
filtering? There are plenty around. Or start one if you think there's
such a huge demand.

> How about all the people who even though they don't use them are
> afraid to offend them lest they be blacklisted?

I don't know anyone like that. Sorry.

> Like it or not, the RBLs wield power and saying they're "voluntary"
> denies that.

Sure. They wield power through the aggregate, like a union. Individual
ISPs and mail admins, by choosing to use this DNSBL or that one, work
together in support of or against the policies reflected by the
individual BLs. I used to use five-ten-sg.com's DNSBL to tag mail, so
my customers could filter, but it was too harsh and arbitrary. I don't
use it anymore. But I'm comfortable using the CBL to refuse mail, because
I trust their policies.

That's how it works. And all because they are voluntarily used by a mass
of mail admins who are trying to keep spam out of their networks.
 
> Steve, your memory is slipping here.  I don't have any connection
> with Rackspace.  That was Tarus.  I've never mentioned them at all.

Oh, OK, sorry about that. 

Anyway, I'm sorry that you continue to hold misguided beliefs about
the nature of voluntary action, and that I've failed to convince you
otherwise. I tried. 

-- 
hesketh.com/inc. v: +1(919)834-2552 f: +1(919)834-2554 w: http://hesketh.com
Buy "Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation, 2/e" today!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159059231X/heskecominc-20/ref=nosim/