Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:51:46 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> To: Jaymz Young <jaymz.young@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Fw: get me off this list Message-ID: <20070411215146.GC26444@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> In-Reply-To: <35c84d6a0704111155q1644e6d5w9ad02b34b7bad199@mail.gmail.com> References: <16753528.1176314390337.JavaMail.root@mswamui-valley.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <35c84d6a0704111155q1644e6d5w9ad02b34b7bad199@mail.gmail.com>
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On Wed, Apr 11, 2007 at 02:55:23PM -0400, Jaymz Young wrote: > Add me to the list of folks who did not subscribe and can not unsubscribe??? > > On 4/11/07, Ted Ims <ecims@mindspring.com> wrote: > > > >I'm incorrectly receiving the list as well and can't unsubscribe. > > > > > >-----Forwarded Message----- > >>From: kathy91383@aim.com > >>Sent: Apr 9, 2007 7:27 PM > >>To: mksmith@adhost.com, stapleton.41@gmail.com, > >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > >>Subject: get my off this list > >> > >> what is this list and why am i on it?!?! > >> I do not know how you got on the list. Normally, as mentioned, there is a confirmation required before one actually gets on the list. As for having trouble getting off the list, here is one possibility. I manage a couple of lists and this is a frequent problem. A person subscribes an address or gets it put on the list somehow. Then along the way the person begins to use a different Email address. The old address still works so that person sets forwarding at old address to the new one and after a while, doesn't think about it any more. Messages from the list keep coming - now to the new address because of the automatic forwarding. Then the person decides to unsubscribe from the list and sends in an appropriate message -- but the message is sent from the new address rather than the old address which is the one actually subscribed. So, the Email list software tries to remove the new address, but, of course, that doesn't solve the issue. The list software does not know about the connection between the old address and the new one to which it is forwarded. The list administrator can guess about what is happening, but doesn't have a good way of discovering the address connection because the error messages from the failed unsubscribe attempts only show the new address, but nothing about the old one. I periodically run a routine that sends a message to each subscriber that contains the address of the subscriber it is being sent to. That way, if it bounces, I can get the original subscription address out of the message or if it does not bounce, but makes it through to the person's new address through the forward, then that person is essentially notified of the original subscription and can either log in to that old address and send an unsubscribe or if they can no longer get in to that old account, send a message to the list administrator with the additional information needed to identify the old address and take action. In this particular case, where the person does not believe they took any action to initiate the original subscription, it is unclear how it got that way. But, one possibility is someone trying to maliciously inflict mischief and abuse on some people. What some abuser could have done is to make a subscription for an address on some host and then make the necessary confirmation response. Then the person would go in to that account and set up forwarding to some innocent person or even to a large number of persons. It would be a type of attack. Those sort of attacks can also be traced to the original [fake] subscription by sending out a message to all subscribers with the address each message was sent to in it. Then, whoever receives it would need to help the list administrator remove it. There may also be some other tools to help trace it, but they are not always effective. I don't know if this is what has happened in these recent cases, but it is one possibility. Hopefully, if this is what has happened, it might be possible to track it down to the original juvenile brat that is doing it and get his daddy to ground him until age 35 or so. So, good luck getting this sorted out. ////jerry
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