Re: weirdo warning

[Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>]

The serious part:

Wording: the proper term is "confirmed opt-in" -- that is, a confirmation
step is used in order to make sure that the person claiming that they want
to subscribe is the only person authorized to make such claims, i.e., the
owner of the email address in play.  "double opt-in" is spammer-speak,
and it's a nonsense phrase besides: there's nothing being done twice.
It was coined by spammers (who have also used "triple opt-in" and even
"quadruple opt-in") in order to obfuscate their tactics.


The not-at-all-serious and far more fun part: a flashback to 1992.

> From: ee.ryerson.ca!sizone!no_new_taxes (Read My Lips)
> Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 18:29:59 -0400
> Subject: Are you a clueless mailing list reader?
>
>  > From: mathew () mantis co uk (mathew)
>  > To:   nm-list () reef cis ufl edu
>  > Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 11:35:27 -0400
>
> Attacking Deep Structure <shaun () octel com> writes:
>
> | MJM -- I have an idea.  Why don't you create a new list to which any
> | person who sends a subscribe/unsubscribe message to a list proper
> | will be added, in addition to having his request fulfilled?  This
> | way, a list will slowly be built up of people who simply have no clue
> | about how mailing lists work.
> |
> | Each day, a daemon will send a message out to everyone on the list, saying
> | something like, "You have been automatically added to this list because
> | you are an ignorant dipshit.  There is no one watching this list; the
> | only way you can become unsubscribed is to figure out the Internet
> | standard for issuing control messages to mailing lists.  If you had
> | followed proper etiquette to begin with, you would not now be on this
> | list.  Later, d00d."
> |
> | This public service list would be available to all list maintainers,
> | and would have a conspicuous normal address like
> | "dumb-fuckers-sender."  The brainless sods who were subscribed could
> | bleat like sheep to each other as they sent mail to the list trying to
> | get unsubscribed.  I'm sure it would sustain itself quite nicely after
> | it had been operational for about a day and a half.
> |
> | This is a serious request.
>
>  I've done it.  clueless () mantis co uk, the Clueless Users Network Test
>  System (aka the Clueless Users Mailing List).  To subscribe, forge
>  mail from the guilty party saying
>
>     subscribe clueless
>
>  and send it to clueless-request () mantis co uk.  He can then happily reply
>  to the regular mail messages, and have his replies sent to everyone else on
>  the list.  He can also send lots of "UNSUB CLUELESS" messages to
>  clueless () mantis co uk and have them forwarded too.  Eventually he'll
>  discover the right way to unsubscribe.
>
>  The regular mail message reads:
>
>  > From: clueless () mantis co uk
>  > To: clueless () mantis co uk
>  > Subject: Welcome, clueless user!
>  >
>  > Welcome to the Clueless Users Network Test System, an intelligence test
>  > for the ignorant and impolite.
>  >
>  > You have been automatically added to this mailing list because you sent a
>  > subscription request like "UNSUB ME" out to the entire readership of a
>  > mailing list, instead of sending it to the list server or list maintainer.
>  >
>  > There is nobody of worth reading this mailing list.  The only way you can
>  > become unsubscribed is to figure out the standard way of unsubscribing
>  > from an Internet mailing list.  Until that time, you will get these
>  > messages regularly.
>  >
>  > If you made an innocent mistake in sending your "UNSUB ME" out to the
>  > entire list, then you will know how to unsubscribe from this list
>  > immediately and no harm will be done.
>  >
>  > If, on the other hand, you simply have no clue how to deal with mailing
>  > lists, you'd better start reading up on the subject before you go
>  > blundering around again.  Your attention is cordially drawn to the
>  > newsgroups news.announce.newusers, news.newusers.questions, and
>  > news.answers.
>  >
>  > Final hint: the mailing list address is clueless () mantis co uk.
>  >
>  > Have fun.

---Rsk
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