Orbs.org

From: Michael Martinez <Michael_at_xenite.org>
Date: Fri 01 Dec 2000 10:13:15 -0500

Let's talk about ORBS.ORG. A few hours before I saw
the last digest, which contained a complaint about
their open server block list, we at Xenite.Org started
experiencing strange email bounces and today we've been
seeing email intended for private individuals from a
game company distributed to one of our larger mailing
lists. As best I can determine (and I am having to
rely upon third-party services to help resolve these
problems), it all appears to be due to ORBS.ORG.

I looked at their FAQ and picked up a little on their
history. To call them a rogue or third-party
organization is, I think, a bit harsh. Clueless might
be a better descriptive term. They are providing a
service to mail admins that is full of holes. Why?
Because people who are subscribed to mailing lists are
not receiving email they have asked for, AND because
(I believe, upon analyzing some of the spam we've
suddenly been flooded with today) I believe that
spammers are using the orbs.org blocked server list to
find new servers to exploit.

So, if you ever wondered why the spam seems to come and
go, that may be one of the reasons why. In the long
run it would be better for mail admins to ignore the
ORBS.ORG list because of the twofold harm it is doing
to the mail user community.

At the very least, I think those of you whose
organizations run their own email servers should
discuss this problem with your system administrators.
The relays don't have to be in YOUR networks in order
for YOUR email to be blocked. As long as your email
attempts to go through a blocked relay it's not going
to reach all the people for whom it's intended. This
includes newsletter distribution lists, blast
announcement lists, discussions, and possibly even
autoresonses.

How widespread is the harm that ORBS.ORG is doing? I
have no idea. It's always worse when the fire is in
your house than in the guy's across the street. But
clearly they aren't too bright in the analysis
department. If ORBS.ORG's operators really believe
they are doing the mail user community a service, they
are completely unreachable by reason.

I am not going to argue with them. Their FAQ indicates
they are unwilling to listen to anyone. It's a shame
that any system admins feel it's reasonable to listen
to ORBS.ORG. I give you all permission to forward my
comments to any concerned parties with the full
attribution if you feel that will help spur discussion
with your technical people.

Your technical may, in fact, have more reliable
knowledge about the situation than me, although I
would not consider anything they might parrot from
ORBS.ORG itself to be reliable information.


There are two responsible parties causing these
problems: ORBS.ORG for distributing a list of servers
to be blocked without ensuring that the blockage won't
help spammers and hurt mail users, and the system
administrators who are indiscriminately blocking
servers just because ORBS.ORG doesn't like the way
those servers are configured.

Failure to deliver legitimate email, and delivery of
legitimate email to the wrong recipients, is clear
evidence that the ORBS.ORG block list is harmful.

Again, I only suggest that those of you who depend upon
email marketing through newsletters and other
legitimate forums discuss this issue with your system
administrators. There is no knowing how many systems
have bought into the ORBS.ORG spam-block list, but you
need to understand that your message may not be
reaching all the people who want to hear it. And that
it may now be reaching people who don't want to hear it
at all.

Science Fiction and Fantasy info_at_xenite.org
Andromeda, Dark Angel, Farscape, Lexx, Roswell, Star Trek
http://www.xenite.org/forums/science_fiction_tv/
XENITE.org





Received on Fri Dec 01 2000 - 09:13:15 CST