Advertising

[Joe Cool]

What the **** is going on with all of the GODDAMN advertising on these
newsgroups?

Can't ANYONE stop it?!?!?

 

[The Mad Ape]

What the **** is going on with all of the GODDAMN advertising on these
newsgroups?

Can't ANYONE stop it?!?!?

Only you can by setting up filters. This type of thing sucks and
destroys groups.

The Mad Ape
www.tatumba.com

 

[.\\\\axxx]

Google could stop it, if they cared. But they don't. So much for their
slogan "don't be evil". They seem more than happy to provide a platform
for spammers to transmit from.

Could they? Don't they?
I thought the newsgroups were public groups - not owned by Google (or
anyone else) .
Perhaps you could let google know exactly how they could stop it.

 

[Lloyd Sheen]

Could they? Don't they?
I thought the newsgroups were public groups - not owned by Google (or
anyone else) .
Perhaps you could let google know exactly how they could stop it.

The postings are hosted on msnews.microsoft.com. How the posts get there
depends on what software you use.

MS is the only ones that I know of that can filter these messages out and
delete them.

I am somewhat dismayed (although I try to keep up my own filtering) of the
number of spam message that have been present in the last couple of weeks.
The day I last updated my filters there were about 100 spam messages and
maybe 5 real messages on this news group.

The other thing is that where they point exists and some entity (not us)
must have the resources to go to their ISP and let them know how their
customers are abusing the internet.

LS

 

[Jordan S.]

RE:

Well, then can't Microsoft block all incoming messages coming _from_ Google?
Or at least put a serious spam filter on the messages coming from Google?

I understand that it is a complex problem - but it's hard to think that
we're all a bunch of victims and that there is nothing that can be done.

It's easy to say that we could just go somewhere else - but that's just not
practical. These MS NGs are not easily replaced, given the caliber of
talent, respect and knowledg that gets communicated in these NGs.

There's gotta be _something_ that can be done.

 

[Jordan S.]

<snip>

RE:
Oh dear - I didn't know Google is now a country-like entity... maybe it's
like the Vatican in that respect.

 

[Chris Dunaway]

Microsoft can't block any posts, never mind those coming from Google,
except on their own news server.

In any case, some legitimate users actually use Google Groups to post, so
blocking Google altogether would be a last resort (though, if enough ISPs
and news services started blocking Google, maybe they'd get serious about
preventing the abuse of their services).


I would think that there's already a serious spam filter on all messages.
It's just that these messages make it through anyway.


I find it very easy to think that.

Seriously though, I've been a victim of spam ever since the original INS
lottery Usenet spam. I have fought it every step of the way since that
time and sadly have only seen it get worse. Fortunately, filters have
improved along the way too, but I find myself cursing every idiot who in
1995 told me "why don't you just delete the message instead of creating
such a fuss?"

The fact is, the usual approach to dealing with endemic spam is to either
block the portal, or block the spammer. In this case, Google and China
are those entities and they are both 800 pound (and then some) gorillas
that no one is just going to block.



Well, those who care most about the newsgroup can set filters to block the
spam. Or even to block all Google posts, if you feel that's a suitable
solution (I don't, at least not on the individual level, because of the
people who legitimately post from Google).

There are longer term solutions, but they will take years, if not decades,
to work their way through the culture and our societal rule- and
law-making process.

That said, if someone comes up with a short-term solution that is likely
to work globally, I'm all ears.

Pete

At our company we can't use a dedicated news client because our
network is closed except through port 80, so Google Groups is all we
can use.

I have Firefox and the GreaseMonkey extension. I have a script called
Google killfile which lets me filter messages it seems to work pretty
good.

Chris