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Can we do something against all this SPAM?

Hi,

Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?
Jun 27 '08 #1
12 1207
ciccio wrote:
Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?
It's a little known fact that usenet posts can be removed by anyone
(by using spoofing). Not all news servers pay attention to deletion
messages, though, and some which do, do it so with a large delay (so
there's basically no use in deleting those spam messages).
Some object to deletions because nothing stops anyone from deleting
anyone else's genuine messages.
Jun 27 '08 #2
* ciccio:
Hi,

Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?
99% or more of Usenet spam originates with Google Groups, and for the avalanche
of spam in the [comp.lang.c++] group the last few weeks it has been 100% of all
spam from Google, quite an achievement for Google...

Since my ISP's newsserver stopped filtering, I've forwarded most of it to
[gr**********@google.com], just on principle.

"Just on principle": it seems that mails to that abuse address are processed
automatically, never seen by monkey.

That is consistent with Google Groups destroying signature delimiters, not
supporting quoting, and not supporting technical feedback.

"Not supporting technical feedback": you're led into a maze of web forms that in
the end don't allow you to give any feedback, and there's no e-mail address.

That's the same scheme Microsoft used to employ: the appearance of supporting
feedback, but in reality only supporting feedback from yay-sayers. Ironically
it's now easier to give technical feedback to the Evil Empire (Microsoft) than
to Do No Evil Google. Which of course might have something to do with that
slogan having been relegated to 12th place or something on their list of mottos.

- Alf

PS1: See also <url: http://improve-usenet.org/>

PS2: As a [comp.lang.c++.moderated] moderator I really should mention that group
as an alternative, but it would be a huge loss for the C++ community & students
if [comp.lang.c++] died due to Google's ineptitude or their blatant evilness.
CC: gr**********@google.com
Jun 27 '08 #3
ciccio wrote:
Hi,

Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?
1) use a decent server
2) setup and maintain your own filters.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #4
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:33:38 +1200, Ian Collins wrote:
ciccio wrote:
>Hi,

Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?

1) use a decent server
I do use what I consider "decent servers" or several, none of which has
filtered the current Google Groups-originating spam torrent.
2) setup and maintain your own filters.
How do I go about filtering the current GG spam torrent, short of killing
all GG posts (which I am indeed considering as a last resort)? This is a
genuine question - any hints welcome (I use the Pan newsreader).

--
Lionel B
Jun 27 '08 #5
Lionel B wrote:
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:33:38 +1200, Ian Collins wrote:
>ciccio wrote:
>>Hi,

Is there something we can do against all this spam. The amount we
receive at this news group is getting past bearing.

Any idea's? Any thoughts?
1) use a decent server

I do use what I consider "decent servers" or several, none of which has
filtered the current Google Groups-originating spam torrent.
>2) setup and maintain your own filters.

How do I go about filtering the current GG spam torrent, short of killing
all GG posts (which I am indeed considering as a last resort)? This is a
genuine question - any hints welcome (I use the Pan newsreader).
I guess all you can do is want I do, add each new pattern to your
filters as they hit. Keeps most of it away. Just don't post anything
with "crack" in the subject and expect a reply!

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #6
Pavel Lepin wrote:
Alternatively, petition your service provider to UDP GG.
[x] Done. Although I don't have my hopes too high, news.cis.dfn.de is
big and the last time I had any contact with an admin, he was being a
moron about me using a nospam addition to my sender email. Hope is that
they fired this one and have some decent people now.

Best Regards,

Lars
Jun 27 '08 #7
Lionel B wrote:
How do I go about filtering the current GG spam torrent, short of killing
all GG posts (which I am indeed considering as a last resort)? This is a
genuine question - any hints welcome (I use the Pan newsreader).
Why not simply use a whitelist in your Google filter, i.e. "filter all
Google postings except of those coming from: ..." ?

Sometimes you'll see a reply to a filtered posting that reveals a new
Google user who did not post crap or spam, and if that actually happens
you can add them to your whitelist. That's probably far from an ideal
solution, but for me it works quite well.
--
Christian Hackl
Jun 27 '08 #8
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:52:45 +0200, Christian Hackl wrote:
Lionel B wrote:
>How do I go about filtering the current GG spam torrent, short of
killing all GG posts (which I am indeed considering as a last resort)?
This is a genuine question - any hints welcome (I use the Pan
newsreader).

Why not simply use a whitelist in your Google filter, i.e. "filter all
Google postings except of those coming from: ..." ?

Sometimes you'll see a reply to a filtered posting that reveals a new
Google user who did not post crap or spam, and if that actually happens
you can add them to your whitelist. That's probably far from an ideal
solution, but for me it works quite well.
That's a fair suggestion, might give it a go.

--
Lionel B
Jun 27 '08 #9
Wow! http://improve-usenet.org recommends just blocking all google groups
posts. And, as if by magic all of the spam disappears. I know that there
are some legitimate users of GG, but the torrent of spam is just so great
that I think it is justified.

If you use Pan then add this to your Score file (in the pan directory of
your home directory) and hey presto.
[*]
Score:: =-9999
Message-ID: googlegroups
Message-ID: webtv

Thanks for the link Alf.

Brian.
Jun 27 '08 #10
On Fri, 18 Apr 2008, Brian Tyler wrote:
Wow! http://improve-usenet.org recommends just blocking all google groups
posts. And, as if by magic all of the spam disappears. I know that there
are some legitimate users of GG, but the torrent of spam is just so great
that I think it is justified.

If you use Pan then add this to your Score file (in the pan directory of
your home directory) and hey presto.
It is a pitty (al)pine is not mentioned on that webpage, nonetheless just
a filter on googlemail did the same trick. gmail is still allowed, but
already 99.999% of the spam is gone with the wind.

Should have thought of filters earlier.

Thanks all for comments, nonetheless beter options are still welcome.

--
"He dropped his voice still lower. In the stillness, a fly
would not have dared clear its throat. "
Jun 27 '08 #11
"Alf P. Steinbach" <al***@start.nowrites:
>
Since my ISP's newsserver stopped filtering, I've forwarded most of it
to [gr**********@google.com], just on principle.

"Just on principle": it seems that mails to that abuse address are
processed automatically, never seen by monkey.
The business model at Google is to provide the lowest common denominator
of service to the highest possible number of people. It works well with
web search, not as well with email (e.g. gmail IMAP is badly borken) and
apparently not well at all with news. What I don't understand is why
they cannot apply their email spam filter (which works pretty well) to
their outgoing newsfeed.

Chip

--
Charles M. "Chip" Coldwell
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
GPG Key ID: 852E052F
GPG Key Fingerprint: 77E5 2B51 4907 F08A 7E92 DE80 AFA9 9A8F 852E 052F
Jun 27 '08 #12
Brian Tyler <br*********@gmail.comwrites:
Wow! http://improve-usenet.org recommends just blocking all google groups
posts. And, as if by magic all of the spam disappears. I know that there
are some legitimate users of GG, but the torrent of spam is just so great
that I think it is justified.

If you use Pan then add this to your Score file (in the pan directory of
your home directory) and hey presto.
[*]
Score:: =-9999
Message-ID: googlegroups
Message-ID: webtv

Thanks for the link Alf.
I use emacs gnus, which uses "scores" instead of a killfile. To install
the rule,

L i r p

[L]ower score based on message [i]D matching [R]egular expression
and install the rule [P]ermanently

Then for the regular expression I entered

<.*\.googlegroups\.com>

That lowers the score of all google groups postings by 1.

However, James Kanze often posts useful stuff, so I raise his score back
by one

I a e p

[i]ncrease score based on message [A]uthor matching [E]xactly
and install the rule [P]ermanently

Then for the email address

James Kanze <ja*********@gmail.com>

Although my email is @gmail.com, my usenet postings go via verizon.net,
so I think a message-id rule will spare me.

Chip

--
Charles M. "Chip" Coldwell
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
GPG Key ID: 852E052F
GPG Key Fingerprint: 77E5 2B51 4907 F08A 7E92 DE80 AFA9 9A8F 852E 052F
Jun 27 '08 #13

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