Can't resist the opportunity to editorialize and say things that are easy
to take out of context, but, ...

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 4:00 AM, Brian <a...@cityscape.co.uk> wrote:

> On Wed 02 Apr 2014 at 10:47:20 -0500, Mr Queue wrote:
>
> > Unfortunately this mailing list has been listed with senderscore and
>
> How does one determine that?
>
> > it would appear the affected users IPS's are utilizing this service.
>
> How does one determine that?


As Mr. Queue (Cool user name!) points out, headers, for all that they can
be forged pretty easily, contain useful information.


> > The listmaster has requested to be delisted but it may take some time
> > for them to process the request.
> >
> > https://www.senderscore.org/
>
> Electronic mail is rapidly becoming a toy communication system.


What? Didn't you know? It was a toy communication system from the start.

((:-/)

Uhm, okay. it wasn't really a toy system. But it wasn't really meant for
general use when Bill Gates and Microsoft decided to co-opt it (speaking in
polite terms).


> How many
> people would tolerate their usual postal services (Royal Mail in my
> case) making any decision whatsoever about what they could send or
> receive?
>

The above was not to disparage Postel or the rest of the extant IETF, but
the current internet, in all its glory, was designed to be used by people
who understood their tools, who understood the social and economic impact
of the uses that could be made of them, and had enough self-interest to
refrain from certain kinds of abuses.

It was not originally designed to be used by people who aren't interested
in how it works or don't care what damage they cause.

Bill Gates and the extent Microsoft decided they had to break the (somewhat
implicit) rules to avoid being slaughtered on the edge of real technology
(as they interpreted losing their effective monopoly), so they jumped on
the internet before it was ready for general use.

By "general use", I mean, by people who don't understand, who don't want to
understand, are too busy or too scared of technology to understand, and/or
don't care.

Having said that, I am sanguine to the principle that there are reasons for
apathy that are not apathetic.


> The question is partly rhetorical but if anyone can formulate a response
> which does not express a fear of spam there are bonus points to be
> gained. :)


I personally still use the calibrated eyeball to filter the unsolicited
mail out of one of my primary mail accounts -- about a thousand messages a
week, takes me about fifteen minutes, twice a week because I've learned how
to use the sorting options and recognize certain patterns in the usually
visible headers.

It did take me a couple of hours several times a week when I first started
to get that volume.

Anyway, the internet of the 1990s should be viewed as infrastructure
technology. We are busy trying to extend that technology instead of
layering proper services on top of it for the non-'l33t, because none of
the current crop of service providers understand the real meaning of
service. (And partly because many of the 'l33t don't really understand the
implications of what they are doing, or, in some cases, don't care what
happens to anyone else, or what happens to themselves tomorrow. Today's
glory seems to be enough.)

So, yeah, what I'm saying is that if you want a real, general-purpose
electronic mail system, you're going to have to help invent it. In the
meantime, we have to live with a lot of clunkiness.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

-- 
Joel Rees

Be careful where you see conspiracy.
Look first in your own heart.

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