ODONNELL@arcb.afrc.ac.uk (05/31/90)
With mad cow disease hitting the NET, and the cascade of UNSUBSCRIBE messages that will probably follow in its wake: It's days like this that make it hard to persuade people that the BBs are such a good idea after all. (Just a moan really...) ************************************************************************* Cary O'Donnell Tel: (in UK) 0582 762271 ext 226 AFRC Computing Centre (+44 for UK) 582 762271 ext 226 West Common Fax: (+44) 582 761710 Harpenden Herts AL5 2JE email: ODONNELL@UK.AC.AFRC.ARCC U.K. (Molecular biology support at AFRCCC)
kristoff@genbank.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) (06/01/90)
> With mad cow disease hitting the NET, and the cascade of UNSUBSCRIBE > messages that will probably follow in its wake: > > It's days like this that make it hard to persuade people that the BBs are > such a good idea after all. > > (Just a moan really...) There is an easy solution to this problem if it becomes a major annoyance. We can at any time convert the BIOSCI newsgroups into a moderated forum. Thus all of this kind of thing can be screened out. In response to another incident on the newsgroups (not the above and so infantile that I almost did not want to reply) I should comment that it is a bit sad when people abuse what is really a free and open forum for communication. In the last four years now we have had very few really annoying incidents, and the great majority of the postings have been serious in intent. However, if someone wanted to discredit BIOSCI it would be very easy for them to do so precisely because we are so free and open. We can preserve our "seriousness" by moderating the groups, but this comes at a cost in freedom. I, for one, believe that our readers appreciate this openness, but, if I am incorrect in this assumption, please let us, the BIOSCI managers, know otherwise. The address at each particular BIOSCI node is: Address Location Network ------- -------- ------- biosci@irlearn.ucd.ie Ireland EARN/BITNET biosci@uk.ac.daresbury U.K. JANET biosci@bmc.uu.se Sweden Internet biosci@genbank.bio.net U.S.A. Internet/BITNET -- Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson GenBank On-line Service Manager kristoff@genbank.bio.net
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (06/01/90)
kristoff@genbank.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) writes:
-> There is an easy solution to this problem if it becomes a major annoyance.
-> We can at any time convert the BIOSCI newsgroups into a moderated forum.
-> [...] In response to another incident on the newsgroups (not the above and
-> so infantile that I almost did not want to reply)
Making the bionet groups moderated won't help. I assume you're
referring to the recent cowabunga plague. Note that it appeared on various
moderated groups, with forged Approved: headers.
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"kristoff@genbank.BIO.NET (David Kristofferson) (06/01/90)
> Making the bionet groups moderated won't help. I assume you're > referring to the recent cowabunga plague. Note that it appeared on various > moderated groups, with forged Approved: headers. I have been told that our friend BIFF, who plastered a large number of USENET newsgroups besides bionet with his garbage, is being actively sought out 8-)! However over the last four years I can only recall about two other remotely similar incidents, so I am not that concerned. We may not be able to protect the system from determined hackers, but we can filter out stuff like SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE messages that are sent to the wrong place as well as other inappropriate stuff. The question is whether or not these are SO annoying that they are worth making the groups moderated. This would entail an additional committment of time on our part at BIOSCI and also result in some delays in the posting of bulletins while they awaited approval. My time is already very strapped (BIOSCI is just a fractional time committment for me among several other items) and, personally, I have always favored the role of friendly traffic cop on these groups versus that of a censor. -- Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson GenBank On-line Service Manager kristoff@genbank.bio.net