| LED Digest 1935: Is Email Antiquated? |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it http://www.led-digest.com ............................................... February 22, 2005 Issue #1935 ............................................... .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Curing Spam ==-- ~ John Smart "The protocols used to transfer email are antiquated." ~ John "zeke" Brumage "Reactive Network Infrastructure can ban spam as easily as other network attacks..." --== RSS Feeds ==-- ~ Dan Eskelson "Some folks use an online service like bloggerto create their feeds." --== Sacking SpamCop ==-- ~ Bill Davison "...there's always going to be at least one idiot subscriber." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== MSN Search ==-- ~ Baruch Avraham --== Cascading Style Sheets -- ~ Theresa Mesa --== CGI Forms & Scammers ==-- ~ Martha Retallick ~ Bill Davison ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: John Smart Subject: Curing spam > Barnum's Law. And as long as the anti-spam activists > promote the idea of spammers as people getting rich > off the rest of us, it will continue. - Deke Hammel, LED 1932 Spam could be drastically cut. The protocols used to transfer e-Mail are antiquated. Most other areas have been updated (Telnet replaced with SSH (a much more secure version) FTP replaced (in some cases) by SFTP (again way more secure) smaller things as well, basic browsers replaced with XML support, Flash integration (not quite the same thing, but still it is evolving). With updated e-Mail protocols it would be easy to ensure that the person claiming to send the mail is the person who really sent it. Of course, some would find a way through, but the whole thing would be much more manageable. There are arguments that say this cannot be done, because you would have to update everyone's e-Mail system - that it would be a problem for cell-phones, for corporate mail servers, etc. However I think these arguments are supplied by the companies making large amounts of money from the bulk mail industry. Corporate mail servers would need some updating, but compare those costs against the lost man-hours in spam deletion and you won't get too many complaints. As for the cell-phone issue, personally I think that anything cutting cell phone usage is good, but I see that argument won't carry well! But how many spams will people pay to receive on their cell phones before they complain a lot? Roll out of a new system would be a massive, and scary job. But the Internet carries no guarantees - if it evolves faster that the users software, it is up to the user to keep up. If the users software evolves faster, then the Internet seems to just swallow it up and grow with it. John Smart, Technical Director InternetDesign.com - A Human Touch in a Digital World ------- new post - same topic -------- From: John "zeke" Brumage Subject: Curing spam ail has set the precedent in suing benefactors of spam, not the senders. Coupled to a right of action, as is the law for junk fax, private small claims lawsuits will end spam very quickly. The new generation of Reactive Network Infrastructure can ban spam as easily as other network attacks. Indeed, anti spamming resources such as the Realtime Black Hole, based on DNS tables, are much older than methedologies for attacks such as password dictionary attacks, etc. a central database / threat matrix is operated by homeland security, info and reporting procedures can be found at http://www.us-cert.gov/ we are asking google and log analysis software vendors to include rss feeds of error log information in real time into these databases. A reverse dns lookup into these databases can provide a threat score for every IP address on the internet. If the government does not wish to make their database public, Google would be the perfect private sector provider of such a service. google is beginning to recognize certain compromized computers making searches. It should be simple for webmasters to direct google to error files to improve google's threat maps. John "zeke" Brumage any 1 question answered $19.95 three for $99.95 ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Dan Eskelson Subject: RSS > I'd also be very interested to know how one turns > an actual web page into an RSS feed? - Kathryn Martyn, LED 1934 Hi Kathyrn, It's not exactly that you turn a web page into a feed... Using appropriate software, you create your message in a template that can be customized to look just like your existing web pages if you wish. I use b2evolution (free) - other popular feed creating software includes MovableType, WordPress, TypePad and others. Some folks use an online service like blogger.com to create their feeds. The huge benefit of RSS, as has been pointed out in this thread, is its ability to deliver content without the increasing hassles and frustration of email. I was encouraged to read here also that RSS autoresponse systems now exist. It's really quite easy to get started, especially if you use one of the above programs. Dan Eskelson The Clearwater Garden Journal http://clearwaterlandscapes.com/b2evo ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Bill Davison Subject: SpamCop > ... if your lists are truly opt-in, your opt-out procedures > are adequate, and your subscribers are not idiots, > SpamCop will never block you. Or so they say. - Sheryl Coppenger, LED 1934 Spamcop boss Julian Haught has publicly admitted that if numerous emails are sent and there's even one complaint - Pow! your hosting company will be blacklisted. Yes Sheryl, there's always going to be at least one idiot subscriber. Unfortunately, it matters not to Spamcop where or not the email was sent to a customers / opt-ins / subscriber whatever, Spamcop never bothers to even check. I have clients who have been victimized and have unquestionable proof this is exactly how Spamcop operates. What is even more disgusting is they will not even respond to any challenge to their vigilante blacklisting. Bill Davison bizwebpage.com ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Baruch Avraham Subject: MSN search engine Can anyone tell me how does the new MSN search works. My site does very well in Google and Yahoo for most keywords are top 5 or 10, but not so with MSN. Does MSN have different values for optimizing ? Any help or insight are welcome. Best regards. Baruch Avraham www.aris-titanium.com info, aris-titanium.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Theresa Mesa Subject: CSS I create 99% of my sites in CSS, and I don't spend a whole lot of time hacking. I'm just a CSS babe in the woods, too! The upside of CSS instead of tables and deprecated code is that: If you want to make a change to the look of a page, you do it once, and every page is changed. The same can be said of server side includes, which is a nice place to keep the banner, navigation, and footer. It makes for a much cleaner page, one that may be more likely to invite a spider to stay there for a while. It makes for a page that is more likely to validate. It makes for a page that is more likely to be accessible. It makes for a page that won't be outmoded when deprecated HTML code is no longer supported by the browsers. It makes for a page whose code is much easier to trouble-shoot. CSS also gives me a lot more control over my formatting. Heck, I can even set navigation up in CSS, and I can replace, remove, and add page links WAY more easily than if they were set up as images controlled by JavaScript. In many ways, I think CSS is easier than using HTML-based formatting. In fact, I only have a hack on one site, that I can think of, and that's only because the page was breaking in IE for the Mac! Theresa Mesa Mesa Design House http://mesadesignhouse.com webmaster, mesadesignhouse.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Martha Retallick Subject: Form scammers > I had a blast of about 500 of the Nigerian scam > e-mails come through a church web site... - David S. Taylor, LED 1933 Interesting discussion on the various vulnerabilities of CGI and other form-handling scripts. Permit me to recommend Will Bontrager, developer of the Willmaster series of CGI scripts. Will has always been a very conscientious programmer, meaning that if a vulnerability is detected in one of his scripts, he fixes it pronto-pronto. Learn more about Will and his software at: http://www.willmaster.com/ Hope this helps! Martha Retallick "The Passionate Postcarder" http://www.postcardmarketingsecrets.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Bill Davison Subject: Form scammers Glad to see Will Bontrager join in the fight. He really does come up with some fantastic ideas. Bill Davison bizwebpage.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains © Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I've a picture of you on our favorite day by the seaside, There's a bird stealing the bread that we brought..." - Sam Beam |
