[thesite] Re: [totc] Criminy (was: some big ruckus)

Ron Dorman rwd at csi1st.net
Tue May 7 21:47:01 CDT 2002


Seb wrote:

> 
>> Hey guys, no point in debating it.  Seb's just saying he can't follow 
>> along
>> if there's a likelyhood that porn spam is going to get through.  No one's
>> attacking anyone. Right?
> 
> 
> Wish I had been able to be at home and follow-up on some of the arguments
> that have been blazing over the last few hours.


Yeah, finish work, take my kids to T-ball, and find a all this stuff 
about the lists when I get back.


> 
> Let me make sure that there is no room for interpretation here:
> 
> 1. I filter all my home accounts, I do not filter mailing lists because of
> the possibility of losing important posts accidentally.
> 2. After specifically requesting access in my new job, I was allowed to
> access my members.evolt.org account to bring the value that evolt.org
> represents into my workplace.
> 3. My contract of employment clearly states unacceptable practices.
> Receiving pornographic material is a dismissable offence.
> 4. After only a couple of hours in my new job, I received an email on
> [thelist] that could easily be interpreted as pornographic. Had somebody
> seen it and interpreted it that way, I would have been subject to summary
> dismissal.
> 5. I made the decision that I will not be able to follow open lists in work
> hours. This restricts me the thechat, totc, and theforum, the areas in
> which I can contribute least to the community. I sent a (fairly outraged,
> I'm sorry to admit) email to all affected lists with the exception of 
> thelist.


These clarifications would've been better a few hours ago.  And much 
better if they were on a more read forum, therefore I am posting to all 
lists except "thelist".

Before I got to this post I had a different picture of the issue.  I 
agree that we need clean lists.  I definitely would not want anyone to 
lose employment over a post from evolt.org.  After reading the 
explanation here and reading what happened from the first post, I am 
dismayed with some of our membership.

This should not have turned into the ruffle that it turned into.  Sure, 
we needed to address the problem, from what I read it was being worked 
on, and our current solution may, or may not, solve the problem, we will 
see.  My question is how well the servers will perform with the added 
load of subscriber validation on the volume of thelist.  Hopefully we 
will not notice it.


> 
> I want to point out that this was in no way whatsoever a personal attack on
> any administrator of any evolt.org list. I know this because I wrote the
> email and am therefore the only person qualified to make that statement.
> 
> Further, I do not want this email to be interpreted as criticism of the
> remarkable work that Dan has done administrating the lists.
> 
> What I do want to point out is that decisions that affect the whole
> community, such as the types of email that all members receive, have to be
> put before the community.


I agree, and think we failed that with our current solution.  A one or 
two day poll on thelist would have been good, with manual approval for 
non-subscribed posts during the poll.


> 
> I have never, in 3 and a half years, received an email through any
> evolt.org list like the one I received this afternoon. I expected that I
> never would have to.


I do understand and have the same expectation.  However I can personally 
attest to a big increase in spam lately, with more sophisticated methods 
and software to poke through spam prevention efforts.


> 
> However ingenious a technical solution to (spam/html mail/non-subscribers
> posting) problems are, it is *not* a technical decision to implement them.
> When something like that affects literally thousands of people, then it has
> to be the informed decision of the entire community.
> 
> 
> Dan, please don't try to turn this into a personal issue, I have nothing
> but the utmost respect for everything you've done.
> 


Thanks for the explanation Seb, it should help us all understand better 
what happened today.  I also hope that we can handle future issues with 
a calmer spirit.

Ron D.




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