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Newbie has questions


plk

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Please forgive me if I am asking questions that have already been answered. I've gone through the forum and came up unclear on 2 issues. Before I register with SpamCop, I'd like to be set straight.

First, on the subject of being a mole. The way I understand it is, if I agree to being a mole the spam emails that I register with SpamCop will just go into a database and no report will be made to the system administrator. What good will that do? On the other hand, if I don't agree to being a mole, a report goes to the system administrator but there could be repercussions. Repercussions against me? If so, what could the repercussions be?

Secondly, once I've submitted some spam for reporting and the originating system administrator is found, I am to understand that I will be contacted by that administrator? If so, why?

Any help you can give me on these 2 issues would be greatly appreciated.

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First, on the subject of being a mole.  The way I understand it is, if I agree to being a mole the spam emails that I register with SpamCop will just go into a database and no report will be made to the system administrator.  What good will that do?

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It will increase the likelihood of the source IP Address being listed at all or longer by the SCBL, and thereby better protect SCBL subscribers, including me.
On the other hand, if I don't agree to being a mole, a report goes to the system administrator but there could be repercussions.  Repercussions against me?  If so, what could the repercussions be?

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Yes, repercussions against you, for asserting your right to protect your own mailbox, for trying to do the right thing about spamming, for making it more likely for the spammers' and spam supporters' accounts to be terminated, and for making more work for overworked understaffed underappreciated underfunded abuse desk and administrative personnel.
Secondly, once I've submitted some spam for reporting and the originating system administrator is found, I am to understand that I will be contacted by that administrator? If so, why?

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Yes, abuse desk and administrative personnel who have the time and inclination (and who are not hamstrung by their management and lawyers) have been known to reply with questions and/or summaries of their actions. Some of those summaries can be quite humorous, especially from the team at RCN.
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First, on the subject of being a mole.  The way I understand it is, if I agree to being a mole the spam emails that I register with SpamCop will just go into a database and no report will be made to the system administrator.  What good will that do?  On the other hand, if I don't agree to being a mole, a report goes to the system administrator but there could be repercussions.  Repercussions against me?  If so, what could the repercussions be?

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spam reports are used to calculate the percentage of spam coming from a specific server to determine if it should be added to the blocklist.

The repercussions of sending a message could be that your email address is hidden in the message somehow and the spammer will know your email address. He could then remove your address from his list (called whitelisting), add your address to other spam lists as a "confirmed valid address", or launch some kind of email attack against you.

I personally do not even have my reports munged (modified to remove my email address) and have had no serious repercussions. My spam did not go up or down appreciably, so if some whitelisted me, others spread the address around. Others have had more serious experiences.

Secondly, once I've submitted some spam for reporting and the originating system administrator is found, I am to understand that I will be contacted by that administrator?   If so, why?

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You can be contacted by the administrator through the spamcop system. They will be given a spamcop.net address to have the message forwarded to you if needed. They may want to let you know that the address was validly requested to receive the message in question and they could provide the proof via this channel. They could inform you that action has been taken. They may also try to convince you that the message was not spam. Whether you reply to these messages or not is completely up to you.

In my experience, you will receive very few of these responses, especially if you allow only real responses (not canned) through, which is an option in the preferences.

Good luck and welcome to the spam fight.

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It will increase the likelihood of the source IP Address being listed at all or longer by the SCBL, and thereby better protect SCBL subscribers, including me.

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From previous discussions here, I've read that mole reports are weighted much less (if at all) in the SCBL algorithm. Is this still the case? If so, what is the rationale?

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From previous discussions here, I've read that mole reports are weighted much less (if at all) in the SCBL algorithm.  Is this still the case?  If so, what is the rationale?

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The last "public" data made available is found within the Announcements section ... "Mole Reporting is back ..."

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The last "public" data made available is found within the Announcements section ... "Mole Reporting is back ..."

Yes, I've read that. The discussion there states that mole reports are not counted at all in the SPBL! If this is still so, then the posts by JeffG and StevenUnderwood ealier in this thread that the value of mole reporting is to support the BL are incorrect.

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