Issues with NANOG mailing list operations and subscriptions

Mon Jan 18 22:50:42 UTC 2021

Hi Sean, Will, group,

On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 03:01:22PM -0800, William Herrin wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 1:37 PM Sean Donelan <sean at donelan.com> wrote:
> > Some people think its funny to ghost subscribe email addresses, and
> > the NANOG mailing list auomation doesn't catch them in the verification
> > process.
> 
> Hi Sean,
> 
> How is that possible? This is exactly what a correctly implemented
> confirmed opt-in procedure is designed to prevent.

Someone was kind enough to share a plausible theory outlining a
potentially fatal flaw in the current verification process. Some
auto-responders are (by accident) able to respond in such a way they end
up positively passing the automated verification process. 

I've shared some suggestions with the volunteers & nanog staff (who run
this mailing list) to improve the subscription verification process.
I am optimistic in the near future we'll be able to prevent this type of
situation from happening again.

Kind regards,

Job

ps. I'm one of the volunteers who support the NANOG staff in a technical
capacity to operate this mailman instance.