Filters, anyone?

[P3D John Bercovitz <bercov@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Some time back, due to overwhelming public outcry, the input filters 
were removed from the photo-3d list.  Those filters blocked messages 
which were too long or contained the word "unsubscribe" or any of a 
host of other odds and ends.  The filters were aimed at a number of 
sources of inappropriate messages.  Everyone who's been on this list 
for any length of time already knows what I've just said but with a 
turnover of somewhat under 1% per day, there are a lot of new folks 
who may be wondering why we send out these long messages which 
include mime or quotes of whole digests.  Everyone who's been on this 
list for any length of time also remembers that the filters would catch 
a fair number of legit posts (enough to be annoying to folks who used 
certain phrases a lot).
 
I'm just wondering, now that we've had a good long trial with no 
filters, if anyone wants to go back.  It hurts my pride to see the 
list turn out junk like that but other than this, there's really no 
harm done.  In the past I heard complaints from PC users that these 
junk messages were a problem.  Is it still a problem?  If not, there 
really isn't any reason to reinstitute filters.
 
Yes, we've tried to educate "newbies" so they don't make mistakes 
like this but with so many of them joining all the time, the odds 
are we're going to continue to get people who need a little time to 
understand how to write to a list.  So I don't see any changes in 
the rate of screwups (now about one major one per week).
 
John B
 
PS: You know, I'd _really_ appreciate it if you'd send mail to 
3d-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx rather than the photo-3d list.  I 
suspect the answer is going to be, "Leave it as is."  The reason 
I haven't written on this subject earlier is that I don't want
to be the one who's guilty of starting yet another metadiscussion on 
the photo-3d mailing list.


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