Re: uunet ends newsfeed/newsreader in US

[Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>]

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 09:48:58PM -0500, Jimmy Hess wrote:
> E-mail address harvesters (where you get bombarded with direct-emailed
> crap if you dare post a message to USENET).

Insignificant: email address harvesting activity, in toto, on Usenet,
is tiny compared to that conducted elsewhere.  (A few moments' thought
will suggest why.)

> The advantage 'forum sites' have is,   you don't reveal your e-mail
> address to the public when posting.

That's a bug, not a feature.  And "forum sites" lack the far more
important features that I enumerated in another message in this thread.

> And automated spam sending can be mitigated through the use of CAPTCHAs.

Captchas have been quite, quite thoroughly beaten for some time.

---rsk

p.s.  Before anyone says "but *my* captchas appear to be working",
let me suggest this exchange as guidance:

        "Londo, they could've killed me!"
        "Nonsense, you are not important enough to kill."