SORBS Contact

Andrew D Kirch trelane at trelane.net
Wed Aug 9 19:36:35 UTC 2006


Albert Meyer wrote:
>
> I think we can sufficiently indict SORBS by saying that they are a 
> poorly managed email blacklist which isn't used by anyone with a clue, 
> without putting on our tinfoil hats. http://www.iadl.org makes some 
> interesting claims, but anyone who puts Paul Vixie in the same list of 
> offenders with Alan Brown and Matt Sullivan is clueless at best. 
> SORBS, SPEWS, etc. are a problem, but they aren't a criminal 
> conspiracy, and claiming that they are isn't going to win any points 
> among people who haven't followed the instructions at 
> http://zapatopi.net/afdb/build.html
Please parse usage of "you and your" as being generic and not directed 
at Albert Meyer except insomuch that I am replying to his message, thanks.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this thread started because someone acquired 
from ARIN IP Space which was previously infested with spammers.  The 
person acquiring the IP space sent multiple tickets (which annoys the 
crap out of every support list I've ever contacted) within the period of 
"less than a week".  CAN-SPAM which is a poorly conceived and almost 
totally unenforced law allows spammers one week to remove users from 
their lists, and this person seems to expect instant turnaround from a 
volunteer organization.  It's unfortunate that he got tainted space from 
a RIR, and further unfortunate that it takes time to process removals, 
and further unfortunate that he is not capable of reading and following 
the directions on Matthew's website which clearly describe how to 
achieve removal from SORBS.  Calling unpaid volunteers "clueless" 
because they don't process removals instantly is in and of itself 
clueless, especially considering that 1. dozens of people are removed 
from SORBS daily and 2. this person has failed to follow the stated 
policies and procedures to be removed from SORBS. 
SORBS, SPEWS, The AHBL all operate on their own set of rules, it's up to 
the administrators of the mail servers that use our lists whether or not 
they agree with our policies.  Remember, and this is very important:  
When blacklisting there is no such thing as a "false positive".  You are 
either blocked or you aren't at the determination of the administrator 
using our list.  Blacklisting is not, nor has it ever been based on 
whether your message is spam or not.  If it helps you, think of it more 
as wanted and unwanted e-mail.  By using SORBS the administrator is 
stating "I do not want e-mail from people Matthew believes are 
spammers", and only a clueless person would think to enforce their will 
on someone else's mail server.
And yes if you request removal from the AHBL and can't follow the simple 
removal instructions, you are in my mind and in my list too clueless to 
contribute e-mail to the public Internet, I therefore don't miss your 
traffic and have never had one of my users complain that they miss it 
either.

--
Andrew D Kirch  |       Abusive Hosts Blocking List      | www.ahbl.org
Security Admin  |  Summit Open Source Development Group  | www.sosdg.org
Key fingerprint = 4106 3338 1F17 1E6F 8FB2  8DFA 1331 7E25 C406 C8D2





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