Comcast blocks email from The Well, citing spam

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Liz Ditz <ponytrax () batnet com>
Date: August 30, 2006 11:44:15 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: for IP if you wish Comcast blocks email from The Well,  
citing spam

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/77736
The Well (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link), one of the oldest (1985)  
virtual communities still on-line, is engaged in a battle with  
Comcast over the cable company's spam filters, notes the Mercurcy  
News. Comcast added e-mails from WELL users to the company's  
blacklist last Sunday, greatly annoying the group's remaining 4,000  
users. Comcast says they've had several problems with the group  
forwarding spam, and at this point needs "some good faith from this  
company that they are going to try to get better" at filtering out spam.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15393026.htm

Comcast blacklists e-mail from online group
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News

A decade before Microsoft released the first version of its Internet  
Explorer browser and nearly a generation before MySpace, The Whole  
Earth 'Lectronic Link, otherwise known as The WELL, was the place to  
be on the Internet.

It was ``the Park Place of e-mail addresses,'' according to John  
Perry Barlow, former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a WELL user.

But to Comcast, e-mails forwarded from The WELL, now owned by  
Salon.com, are spam. The country's largest provider of cable and high- 
speed Internet added The WELL to its e-mail blacklist Sunday  
afternoon, blocking e-mails from the renowned online community of  
about 4,000 members.

Gail Ann Williams, director of communities at Salon.com, said it took  
a while for The WELL to figure out what was going on. A call to  
Comcast's customer service to try to restore the e-mail traffic was  
directed to a Web site that featured a contest to ``tell us your  
worst technical support story.''

Williams said she was able to get a response from a technician  
Tuesday morning only after contacting Comcast's press office.

A spokeswoman for Comcast said Williams had not correctly entered the  
e-mail address featured in the recording.

On Tuesday afternoon, e-mail forwarded from The WELL was still being  
blocked by Comcast.

Mitch Bowling, who heads Comcast's online business, said a  
significant volume of spam has been coming from The WELL. He said it  
was the fourth time The WELL has been flagged for forwarding spam.  
``At this point we need some good faith from this company that they  
are going to try to get better'' at filtering out spam.


**********
Liz Ditz
ponytrax () batnet com

blog: http://lizditz.typepad.com

Success: fall down seven times, stand up eight.


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