Undisguised e-mail addresses in mapserver archives

[Jeff Portwine]

I know this is offtopic, but since this was brought up... it kind of leads
into a question I've had for a while.   Is there any particular reason that
we use an email list instead of like a web forum for this kind of
communication?   It seems like opensource projects like this one tend to use
email lists instead of forums, but it seems to me that there are a lot of
advantages to a web forum such as easier searching and threaded messages, as
well as the ability to post announcements and sticky-note a FAQ would make
it the preferred method.   It would also solve the spam problem as email
addresses can pretty much always be hidden.   I'm not opposed to email of
course, was just a question I  had.

-Jeff

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jacob Delfos" <jacob.delfos at MAUNSELL.COM>
To: <MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 6:57 AM
Subject: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Undisguised e-mail addresses in mapserver
archives


> Hi All,
>
> Sorry if this has been brought up before, but the spam problem is taking
> on worse forms for me. Since I have been on the mapserver (and related)
> mailing lists, my e-mail address have been appearing a lot on the
> internet, in a completely undisguised way. The amount of spam I receive
> has since been rising rapidly. Additionally, my address is being spoofed
> lately, such that I occasionally get 100s of bounced messages that I
> didn't send, to people to whom it could not be delivered.
>
> I was hoping it might be possible to configure the mailing lists such
> that e-mail addresses are disguised (even if it is poorly, by replacing
> occurrences of @ with 'at'). I know that I could set up a special
> "mailing list" address, but that makes things a lot harder to manage,
> and people would still send spam in my name.
>
> My address does not appear anywhere else on the internet, so I am quite
> sure that the archives of the mailing lists are the cause. It's not that
> I'm trying to complain, just that a small change could save a lot of
> people a lot of headaches.
>
> regards,
>
> Jacob
>