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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Note to Zebulingod & everybody else
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 19:26:09 -0700 (PDT)
Psst... Zebulingod@****.yahoo.com

I just tried to send you a private email regarding some of the stuff
you are planning that I was wondering if I could join in on.

It bounced like a tennis ball off a concrete backboard.

This, as they say, is not good, especially when the error message from
my mail daemon reads:

Name service error for domain spam.yahoo.com: Host not found

I hope this is a DNS (domain name server) problem or something so
benign. However, I am kinda curious why yahoo would have a computer
named "spam" so I'll put this caveat in just-in-case and as a note to
everybody else on the list, especially the newcomers:

As far as I know, the list greatly frowns on people with "faked" sender
addresses. From just the spam angle, it means that you can spam away,
and there is no way for anyone to reply and give you their two cents
about not spamming people (preferably with many explatives and colorful
metaphors). But even on the "nice" side, if say, someone like me, wants
to talk with someone privately off-channel about a plotline, like just
now, without having to resort to spilling the beans to the general
public on PlotD, they can't if your reply address is jimmied so it
doesn't work.

So again, sorry if this is just a problem with a DNS somewhere, but if
it isn't you really should fix your "From:" field address so that it
actually will reach you.

--My two yen

Jeff
Message no. 2
From: Logan Graves logan1@*****.intercom.net
Subject: Note to Zebulingod & everybody else
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 01:16:53 -0400
In our last episode, Mach wrote:
>
> Psst... Zebulingod@****.yahoo.com
<snip>
> I hope this is a DNS (domain name server) problem or something so
> benign. However, I am kinda curious why yahoo would have a computer
> named "spam" so I'll put this caveat in just-in-case and as a note to
> everybody else on the list, especially the newcomers:

Since it's late AND I'm still awake AND I fall under the 'everybody else'
rubric, I'll attempt an answer:

I have a suspicion you'll find that "spam.yahoo.com" is nothing more than the
old (& I mean old!) Usenet anti-spamming trick. This habit is used by folks who
don't want their addy's picked up by computerized auto-junk-mailers or obnoxious
marketing weasels.

However, it's sort of implied in the "net-savvy manual" that one's supposed to
remove *that* part before sending email.

Would it have made more sense had he put "Zebulingod@******.yahoo.com" ?

--Fenris
______________________________________________________logan1@*****.intercom.net
(>) Fenrir shamans are mean and ruthless
individuals who have a disturbing tendency
to treat others like their next meal.
(>) MitS, pg.158
Message no. 3
From: Mach mach@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Note to Zebulingod & everybody else
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 19:26:09 -0700 (PDT)
Psst... Zebulingod@****.yahoo.com

I just tried to send you a private email regarding some of the stuff
you are planning that I was wondering if I could join in on.

It bounced like a tennis ball off a concrete backboard.

This, as they say, is not good, especially when the error message from
my mail daemon reads:

Name service error for domain spam.yahoo.com: Host not found

I hope this is a DNS (domain name server) problem or something so
benign. However, I am kinda curious why yahoo would have a computer
named "spam" so I'll put this caveat in just-in-case and as a note to
everybody else on the list, especially the newcomers:

As far as I know, the list greatly frowns on people with "faked" sender
addresses. From just the spam angle, it means that you can spam away,
and there is no way for anyone to reply and give you their two cents
about not spamming people (preferably with many explatives and colorful
metaphors). But even on the "nice" side, if say, someone like me, wants
to talk with someone privately off-channel about a plotline, like just
now, without having to resort to spilling the beans to the general
public on PlotD, they can't if your reply address is jimmied so it
doesn't work.

So again, sorry if this is just a problem with a DNS somewhere, but if
it isn't you really should fix your "From:" field address so that it
actually will reach you.

--My two yen

Jeff
Message no. 4
From: Logan Graves logan1@*****.intercom.net
Subject: Note to Zebulingod & everybody else
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 01:16:53 -0400
In our last episode, Mach wrote:
>
> Psst... Zebulingod@****.yahoo.com
<snip>
> I hope this is a DNS (domain name server) problem or something so
> benign. However, I am kinda curious why yahoo would have a computer
> named "spam" so I'll put this caveat in just-in-case and as a note to
> everybody else on the list, especially the newcomers:

Since it's late AND I'm still awake AND I fall under the 'everybody else'
rubric, I'll attempt an answer:

I have a suspicion you'll find that "spam.yahoo.com" is nothing more than the
old (& I mean old!) Usenet anti-spamming trick. This habit is used by folks who
don't want their addy's picked up by computerized auto-junk-mailers or obnoxious
marketing weasels.

However, it's sort of implied in the "net-savvy manual" that one's supposed to
remove *that* part before sending email.

Would it have made more sense had he put "Zebulingod@******.yahoo.com" ?

--Fenris
______________________________________________________logan1@*****.intercom.net
(>) Fenrir shamans are mean and ruthless
individuals who have a disturbing tendency
to treat others like their next meal.
(>) MitS, pg.158

Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!