At 02:58 PM 1/31/2004, you wrote: So why not just throw that all away? Just bounce it with a "you must join the list to post" message? It's not all that big a deal for a human to join a mailing list... much harder for a spammer's automated computer. -Kelly

Email works on a store and forward protocol. SpamAssassin works on emails in the store part of that mechanism. Unfortunately, email lists are simply a forward multiple times immediately mechanism. Without the store portion, SpamAssassin cannot be made to work in that way (unless it was somehow integrated into the source code for the mail manager.) Now, everyone on the list could install SpamAssassin on their own server, but that's not what you were asking for. If I'm wrong about how SpamAssassin is working (or it works in multiple ways) someone please correct me. One solution I've used is to use Yahoo Groups email manager rather than majordomo or similar. There is a web interface for approving or rejecting messages from non-members. You can have as many moderators as you want (can get) to approve or reject messages to the list. It's also easier for most people to subscribe or unsubscribe through that interface than through the interface you are currently using. I understand the desire to use open source projects, but Yahoo Groups is free, and it is very effective in helping to bring this sort of thing under control. I used majordomo myself for about 4 years, and was very reluctant to switch to Yahoo Groups, but I've never looked back. -Kelly At 05:02 PM 1/31/2004, you wrote:

At 12:21 PM 2/2/2004, you wrote: When I used majordomo, it didn't deal with bounced messages very well. It's sad IF it actually is better. Mental illness can be defined as not being able to change one's opinion even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I would hate to think that "open source" pride is a mental illness ... :-) -Kelly