[freegeek-e-newsletter] Unwanted Email Messages Explained

[e-newsletter at lists.freegeek.org]

Hi there, folks.  It seems that, on Wednesday evening, a bit of spam got
through our filters.  We think that a spammer signed up for the e-newsletter
list and eventually posted the offending message.  The e-newsletter list is
configured in a way that _all_ posts are sent to (ahem, human) moderators for
approval or disapproval.  This one, accidentally, was approved to be sent to
the entire list.  We're very sorry about this.

A message from Kenny, one of our illustrious system administrators:
"It is not possible to prevent spammers from subscribing to FreeGeek mailing
lists. Anyone who wants to join the list could turn out to be a spammer. It
is only possible to restrict and filter posts to large and more public lists
like this one. This is the general practice of FreeGeek and requires daily
tending by humans as well as automated spam prevention systems. For the
thousands of offensive emails rejected by your list moderators, please
understand that one or two may slip by. This is not intentional. Every effort
is made to keep the communication around FreeGeek as unoffensive as
possible."

Since the rogue email got through to the list, we've had some other problems 
(i.e. the additional emails which got through this evening).  We're currently 
working on this new issue.  We've taken some emergency measures to
ensure that only authorized messages get through to the e-newsletter list.

Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience and/or shock that these
unexpected emails may have caused.  We promise, we're working on it!

I'm looking forward to getting in touch in early April with the next edition
of our bona fide Free Geek email newsletter.


Shawn Furst
Volunteer Program Coordinator
Free Geek