From: Karl von Laudermann <doodpants@...>
Date: 2008-04-07T22:15:09+09:00
Subject: Re: Is it possible to stop SPAM?

On Apr 7, 8:37 am, Gregory Seidman <gsslist+r...@anthropohedron.net>
wrote:
> Spam is a global problem. If it were easy to stop, it would already be
> gone. You are using gmail, however, which has pretty decent spam filters.
> Use them.

I find the attitude of "filter it yourself" to be dismissive and
unhelpful. No, you can't stop spam from being sent, but there do
exist  tools to detect and filter spam, such as the one you pointed
out that gmail has. If a spam filter could be applied to the mailing
list so as to prevent the spam messages from being sent out to
everyone in the first place, then that would be preferable, as it
would remove the burden from each individual participant. IOW, having
everyone filter it themselves seems to violate the DRY principle. ;-)

Also, not everyone is using the mailing list. Some of us read and post
to the comp.lang.ruby newsgroup. Google Groups (which I use) doesn't
have a spam filter AFAIK, and neither do most news readers with which
I am familiar. (Killfiles aren't quite the same thing; you have to
know in advance what you're filtering.)