Dealing with abusive multiple posts

I was unpleasantly surprised to see the string of maybe 100 multiple posts concerning the stupid MassiveProng thing, and it really detracted from my ability to read other headers. However, I found that, using my Outlook Express newsreader, I was able to permanently delete them. If only the same thing could be done throughout Usenet, to remove such obvious trash, which seems to have been done specifically to compromise the usefulness of Usenet.

This sort of abuse is IMHO much worse than the occasional spam, and borders on the seriousness of a virus. What is to stop someone from creating a robotic post generator sending thousands of garbage posts to selected newgroups that they want to cripple? How can the perps be traced and effectively neutralized (creative ideas are brewing in my mind).

It is perhaps a sensitive issue to permit any sort of filtering or censorship not directly controlled by the recipient. Is there a solution for unmoderated newsgroups? Can there be some sort of automatic detection and rejection system that would intercept such "attacks" and render them harmless? An internet SDI?

One solution I have been trying to propose, for email spam, is to charge a universal tax of perhaps $0.01 per email sent. This would certainly not bother me, or most individuals, because if I send 25 emails (or posts) in a day, that is a lot, and I would happily spend a quarter to be assured that my inbox (or spam filter) is not clogged with a hundred emails that I need to go through to pick out the occasion false catch. If it saves me 5 minutes, my time is certainly worth more than what I spent.

Legitimate business users can deduct this "tax" as a legitimate expense. Perhaps a "bulk permit" could be offered, with the assurance that any recipient could actually opt out.

The funds generated by such a "tax" could be used to find and prosecute those who create and distribute viruses or other malware.

Paul

Reply to
Paul E. Schoen
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If anyone figures out how to do that in Mozilla please let us all know.

Unfortunately that would leave the vulnerability of abusive deletions.

Nah! No new taxes. Seriously. It would mean another big fat bureaucracy, make politicians of the "tax'em - spend it" category drool over a new revenue source, and exclude a lot of people. Not just Internet cafes. Think about all the people who must subsist on less than one Dollar a day. Not everyone has it as good as we do.

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http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

I saw 665 of them. I modified my kill filter to just delete anything from anything called "massive".

Do you really thing that having to paying $6.65 would bother some idiot troll?

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Oh, you don't know who posted all that trash? Just look at the headers, it's easy.

Reply to
Anthony Fremont

Mozilla Thunderbird: Click on "Tools" at the top of the page, then select Message filters.

A new window will pop up. Select: "New".

Name the filter where it says: "Untitled Filter" EG: Massive

Click where it says "Subject", and select Sender

Type in whatever you are trying to filter. EG: Massive

At the bottom where is says "Perform These Actions", select either "Mark the message as read", or "Delecte this message".

Click on OK.

PS: You can also delete anything from selected domain names by filtering on @gmail, @AOL or whatever domain that you find to be useless.

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Then set the limit to 1000 emails a day, and 75 cents each, after that unless you are a large, legitimate corporation, and can PROVE that it is require to operate your business. Any spam and there goes your license, for good.

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

None of this seems to work in Mozilla. Oh well, if this stupid mass posting continues that means I have to switch. Again.

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Reply to
Joerg

Maybe that should be my next newsreader. In Mozilla it seems delete = cancel and it doesn't let you unless it's your own post.

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Reply to
Joerg

Killfile.

Xnews: K,0

No biggie. Regards,

Mike Monett

Reply to
Mike Monett

It looks like these multiple posts really screw up GoogleGroups. Maybe that's a "good thing"? I don't think they have any good way to delete, bypass, filter, or ignore them all, so maybe this will inspire them to add that functionality. You can't just look at headers; it opens part of the text, so you have to step through a whole lot of pages to get past the crap. I was surprised to see that each post contained different text, probably clips from some technical manual. I didn't bother to open them in OE.

Paul

Reply to
Paul E. Schoen

In Agent, sweep them with the mouse to highlight them, then hit the delete key. That takes a few seconds.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

It would get the attention of spammers who send a few million emails a day. Some work on a 1 PPM response rate.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

What version of Mozilla are you using?

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Mozilla 1.6. This PC is the old "office clunker", running all day mostly to look at datasheets and find parts.

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http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

Were you in the browser or the newsreader when you tried? Its only availible in the mail & newsreader I can't find a copy of 1.6 in my archives, and I'm using the stand alone version of Thunderbird on the only computer I can reach at the moment.

news://news.mozilla.org/mozilla.support.mozilla-suite is their news server for Mozillia support.

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Here is kill filter for Google groups.

You will find simply killfiling MassiveProng will result in 99% on topic posts.

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You can't just look at headers; it opens part of the

They all seemed perfectly on electronic design to me and not in the least abusive. Probably a courtesy to uninterested folk on dial up.

A large file would seriously impede a dial up connection. That's why folk split files.

Reply to
John Prentiss

Only if there is a big enough squawk about it.

True.

Here's hoping--but don't hold your breath. A pageview of crap can hold just as many ads as a page full of gems. They have already shown that they believe a spammer's eyes are just as valuable to them as someone with a working ethical compass.

If I'm hearing you correctly, you aren't looking at the page carefully. At the very top of the page it says: Discussions View: Topic list, Topic summary

Just chose the non-default one.

Reply to
JeffM

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A lot of it is sent through Zombies, and it would cost the people who own the computers, not the spammers. The only real way to get rid of the problem is a new email protocol that verifies the mail servers are who they claim to be. your mail server is notified they have mail for you and give their mail server name. The IP address is looked up, and your server requests that message be sent. Any server not complying would be ignored. To make it simple whether the mail is on an old or new server would be to continue to use a single @ for the old servers, and @@ for the new ones. That way you could keep your current email address. mail to the old address could be sent to a separate inbox until the entire upgrade is made. A bot could reply that you only accept mail from secure servers, and give the corrected address. A simple click would forward the message with the new address.

If they did something similar to news servers, it would kill the spam there as well.

Think how much it would save companies who need an entire staff to deal with Spam and Phishing?

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Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

The count on the Subject line looked pretty accurate to me. Google counted 633.

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You're late to that party. I first heard that notion ~5 years ago. I suspect it was rattling around before that. ...but the point is worth noting: When it doesn't cost anything to be an asshat, you see more of them.

...and there we have the downside Re: the persistantly obnoxious.

Reply to
JeffM

I am in the mail & newsreader, which is actually only used for NGs on this PC.

Good idea, I should ask there.

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Reply to
Joerg

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