SPUG: helping spammers (was: Two errors I need hashing out)

Jason Lamport jason at strangelight.com
Wed Jan 16 06:37:56 CST 2002


While I agree that the smart-ass tone of Ken's post was not helpful, 
it seems to me that if one has reason to believe that someone posting 
on this list is seeking information to be used for some unethical or 
illegal purpose, then it is perfectly appropriate to alert the rest 
of us to that fact.

I consider spam to be a serious problem, and as part of the internet 
community, I believe we have an obligation to do what we can to stop 
it -- including ostracizing known spammers from such forums as SPUG.

Again, I'm not defending the exact content of Ken's post: there was 
no need to be rude or obnoxious (and I personally would have given 
the OP the benefit of the doubt, and *asked* her about the spams 
before jumping to conclusions).  But I do think that (well-founded) 
accusations of spamming are completely appropriate on this list.

Of course, it's ultimately the moderator's decision what is and is 
not off-topic, and if Tim decides that it's none of our business what 
a poster chooses to do with the information we share -- even if it's 
grossly unethical -- then I will certainly respect that decision. 
But while the matter is up for discussion, I wanted to explain why I 
(somewhat) disagree with Daryn on this point.

-jason


At 5:01 pm -0800 1/15/02, Daryn Nakhuda wrote:
>  > I'm not sure I'd want to help out a known, chronic spammer or spam-friendly
>>  site.  I mean, I'm helpful, but aiding and abetting a lawbreaker isn't my
>>  idea of a good time.
>
>Ken,
>
>Please don't waste all of our time with this kind of post.
>
>1. it was obnoxious.
>2. the original post & ensuing thread was completely perl related and
>therefore appropriate.
>3. was there really any benefit to the whole group hearing you be a
>smart-ass?
>4. sounds like you were wrongly accusing her anyway.
>
>if you have a reply to this, keep it off the list.
>
>-daryn
>
>
>
>
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