wine users - Apr 2011 - Forum archive reveals email addresses, PLEASE STOP IT.

In trying to track down how spammers are finding my email address, it
has come to my attention that past postings are being archived at
http://forum.winehq.org/ which reveals mine and other posters email
address. I do not know who to address this to, but hopefully one of the
list maintainers will see this posting. Please stop this practice (most
mail lists archives do take steps to thwart spammers from harvesting
email addresses) and  please fix the archive so our email addresses are
not revealed.

An example of where my email address is being revealed is at

http://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?p=46237&sid=000dc479ce03c0592827269f45b26939

  Marc Chamberlin

Marc Chamberlin wrote:
> 
> An example of where my email address is being revealed is at
> 
>
http://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?p=46237&sid=000dc479ce03c0592827269f45b26939
> 
Did you even look at the thread you linked to? Posts on the forum do not have
email addresses in them unless someone puts it in the body of the message. Your
post in that thread has your name and "Guest" indicating that it came
in via the mailing list. I think what you are referring to is the mailing list
archives, which strip out the @ from email addresses but leave the rest intact.

The mailing list is linked to the forum, so at least some of the spam you are
receiving was probably posted on the forum. Moderators delete spam from the
forum as soon as we see it, but there is no way for us to stop it from being
forwarded to the mailing list. Either set up a good spam filter at your end or
start using the forum instead of the mailing list.

On 4/24/11 3:37 PM, Marc Chamberlin wrote:
> In trying to track down how spammers are finding my email address, it
> has come to my attention that past postings are being archived at
> http://forum.winehq.org/ which reveals mine and other posters email
> address.
The are not "revealed".  Also, your traffic could be captured ANYWHERE
along the path.  Spam is a part of life on the Internet.  Looks like you 
are getting swamped.

Rules of dealing with spam:
1.  Delete all spam messages WITHOUT reading.  Some of the messages have 
trackers built in.  This is why sending HTML formatted mail is a no-no 
to mailing lists.  This mailing list blocks HTML mail, but some do not.
2.  Configure something like spamassassin if you are receiving mail 
directly from a non-filtering ISP.  This will stop most/all spam from 
getting through.
3.  Get and use a 'throw-away' address for mail sent to mailing lists.  
Most ISPs will allow this if you explain that any return mail is being 
sent to a spam trap.  Use a second address to read the mailing list from 
(it also allows for a full record of what was sent by the list.)  Also, 
this allows you to turn off the send to address without causing a 
serious ruckus on the mailing list or other area where you are getting 
mail from.  Most list mailing software allows for the split.  Both 
addresses will have to be registered.  The first you say "I don't want 
mail to be sent to this address".  The second is never used to sent mail 
to the list.  I know of several people on several mailing lists that are 
doing just this.

All of these are recommended 'Security Best Practices'.

Dimensio has opened a bug report for this problem, but I doubt that this 
will ever get fixed.

BTW, Spammers do not look at the forums for addresses.  Too much like 
work and they like things easy.

James McKenzie
CISSP 36780

Marc Chamberlin wrote:
> 
> I have checked on other mail lists that I subscribe to, either directly
> or via websites, and notice most of them pass all postings through a
> filter to change/obfuscate email addresses to varying degrees, including
> embedded and reply to's. This mail list should provide the same
courtesy
> to it's subscribers as well.
It already does. The mailing list archive is at
http://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-users/ The email addresses in it are
obfuscated.

The forum is not an archive. Most of the email you receive on the list was
initiated on the forum. Displaying whatever was in the body of a post,
unchanged, is normal forum behavior.