[MUD-Dev] Re: ADMIN: Advertising on MUD-Dev

[s001gmu at nova.wright.edu]

On Sat, 8 Aug 1998, Michael Hohensee wrote:

> How about this:
> 
> Most advertisements that free email providers attach to users' messages
> consist of links and text either before or after the main body of the
> message.  It wouldn't be hard to chop this stuff out if people attach a
> small tagline at the beginning and end of their message.  All you need
> to do then is have the mailserver automatically chop everything in the
> main body of the message before and after these tags.
> 
> So if I'm writing a message to the list with one of these email
> services, I would type something like this:
> 
> *<MUD-Dev>*
> Hi, I've just had a few thoughts about Bubba and Buffy --don't you think
> they're a little strange?  After all, they've been together quite a long
> time, one wonders that nothing has developed between them..
> 
> Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that one of them gets
> killed every once in a while. :)
> 
> --J. Random Slob
> *<MUD-Dev>*
> 
> Then the mail server just looks for those tags, and if it can find them,
> makes a few snips.  Voila, the advertisements never were. ;>  To enforce
> this, you can compile a list of the most common free email services'
> domain names (i.e. hotmail.com, geocities.com, tripod.com, etc), and
> bounce any messages from these domains which do not contain the
> *<MUD-Dev>* tag with some suitable explaination.
> 
> That way, you keep the advertisements at bay, while having to do only
> minimal work to keep it updated against advertising.  Heck, all you'd
> have to do when a new advertiser-mailer comes along is run a script
> which runs something like "add_advertiser 'domain.net'" and pastes
> 'domain.net' onto the end of the advertisers' list.
> 
> Hope this helps. :)

I had to include this whole message, because he took the words right out
of my mouth.  I see no reason that the whole mess can't be automated.
It's a constant addition to a message with a known format.  Computers were
designed from the get-go to handle things like that.  I see no reason to
ban people from the list because they happen to have an email provider
that sticks a couple lines on the end of their message.  In fact, I'd be
forced to seriously reconsider my participation in the list if such a
(pardon the term) naziesque policy of discrimination were implemented.

Advertising is a part of the 'net as much as all the servers that make the
'net a reality.  Deal with it.

Besides, I don't see how a mail service provided advert is any different
from various ppl's sigs that advertise their particular web page/mud/
whatever.  Ban one, ya gotta ban 'em all.

Maybe I shouldn't have been listening to Rage Against The Machine as I was
writing this message... ;)

-Greg