<html><head></head><body>I am hosting ale on a dedicated server in Toronto for $50/mo. I use the other 50% of the system.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On July 12, 2022 7:03:57 PM MST, Allen Beddingfield via Ale <ale@ale.org> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre class="k9mail">I'm not familiar with the hosting setup for the list, but is it a VM hosted with a VPS provider? I've never heard of getting charged for complaints like that. Maybe also time to shop around for another hosting provider that doesn't care as much?<br>Just a thought.<br>Allen B.<br>--<br>Allen Beddingfield<br>Systems Engineer<br>Office of Information Technology<br>The University of Alabama<br>Office 205-348-2251<br>allen@ua.edu<hr>From: Ale <ale-bounces@ale.org> on behalf of Jim Kinney via Ale <ale@ale.org><br>Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2022 8:56 PM<br>To: Robert Tweedy; Derek Atkins; Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts<br>Cc: Jim Kinney<br>Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [ale] Help!! Ale is being abused<br><br>I say disable the addresses in postfix. It is an easily automated way to bring the server to it's knees and rack up bad vibes for ale and potentially fines from the hosting provider. If someone actually complains, we can add them manually or refer them to the web form.<br><br><br><br>On July 12, 2022 6:10:58 PM MST, Robert Tweedy <robert@robert-tweedy.com> wrote:<br>I feel like disabling the Mailman "-request" and "-subscribe" addresses would have unintended side effects, but it's technically a possibility; does anyone more familiar with GNU Mailman know if this is:<br><br>1. A bad idea/will severely break core Mailman functions (alternatively, how many people will start sending in complaints that their emails to "ale-request@ale.org"<mailto:ale-request@ale.org> stopped working)?<br>2. An option that's available through Mailman's configuration files? Or would I need to modify the Postfix aliases to achieve this?<br><br>-Robert<br><br>On 7/12/22 20:40, Derek Atkins wrote:<br><br>Another option is to turn off handling of email-based subscription<br>requests and require going through the web interface?<br><br>-derek<br><br>On Tue, July 12, 2022 8:17 pm, Robert Tweedy via Ale wrote:<br><br><br>I've gotten a basic Captcha configured now on Mailman's main sign-up<br>pages (which is likely where the issue's coming from), so this will<br>hopefully lessen the problem. I'm definitely open to any suggestions for<br>improvement as well as donations of time to implement a better<br>spam-filtering mechanism to prevent the server from responding to every<br>incoming message it receives (ie. Mailman either needs to be smarter<br>about what messages it replies to & what messages it just<br>ignores/discards without a reply, or we need our spam filter to also<br>work internally & keep Mailman from sending out spam on its own when<br>someone/something abuses forms on the site that could generate an email).<br><br>On 7/12/22 18:01, Jim Kinney via Ale wrote:<br><br><br>Started getting these notices/complaints today and each one is a $5<br>charge from my hosting provider. We're up to $35 so far today.<br><br>I'm on work out of state and didn't travel with any personal gear and<br>Robert is also slammed. Can someone gently talk with the recipient and<br>ask if they can simply delete/block instead of complain.<br><br>We are open to ideas. That email is already blocked.<br><br><br><snip><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<mailto:Ale@ale.org><br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>--<br>Computers amplify human error<br>Super computers are really cool<hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></pre></blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Computers amplify human error<br>Super computers are really cool</body></html>