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

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>   We now have list members who are using various free email services,
> and in particular email services which append or prepend avertising to
> all messages sent thru them (eg yahoo).  Sooner or later one of them
> is going to request posting authority.  This very much rubs me the
> wrong way: I have no interest in being the host for another's
> advertising.  I especially have no interest in cannonising their
> advertising for posterity in the web archives for the list.

Speaking as someone who relies on this kind of free service, I
agree entirely. My email address is a free forwarder, and it
forwards to a free hotmail account. Both services append adverts
to mail sent through them. My solution is simply not to send
mail through them.

It's trivial to point Netscape (or whatever mail program) at your
local smtp server (I use my ISP's at home, and run one on my PC
at work) and send email that way with whatever 'from' address you
care to configure. It's not quite so convenient to cut and paste
as to hit reply (though Netscape's 'paste and quote' feature is
handy), but it solves the problem of the adverts.

>   My temptation is to refuse posting authority to all such
> advertising-laden messages as a matter of policy.  I also realise that
> some 'net users have no general email address (eg their only 'net
> access is thru work and work either does not support Internet email so
> they use a web based email service or they don't want non-work related
> email entering the company and potentially putting their job at risk).
> I could install filters on the list to attempt to strip advertising
> from inbound messages but am leery of committing to having to support
> that filter as the format and pattern of the advertising changes over
> time.

The problem with filters is that they are reactive, not proactive.
You don't know about what they might miss until it's too late and
you also have a risk of falsely filtering non-adverts.

>   Comments?  Thoughts?  Discussion welcome.  Please discuss this only
> under the above subject heading.  I'll post a formal decision by
> before the 15th, at which time the thread will be dead.

I'd go with banning the appended/prepended adverts. Its easy for
those who need to to find a way to send mail without them.

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