[R] Grumble ...

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> "Ted" == Ted Harding <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
>>>>>     on Wed, 24 Nov 2004 10:36:35 -0000 (GMT) writes:

    Ted> Hi Folks, A Grumble ...

    Ted> The message I just sent to R-help about "The hidden
    Ted> costs of GPL ..."  has evoked a "Challenge" response:

    Ted>   Hi, You´ve just sent a message to
    Ted> diagnosticando at uol.com.br In order to confirm the sent
    Ted> message, please click here

    Ted>   This confirmation is necessary because
    Ted> diagnosticando at uol.com.br uses Antispam UOL, a service
    Ted> that avoids unwanted messages like advertising,
    Ted> pornography, viruses, and spams.

    Ted>   Other messages sent to diagnosticando at uol.com.br
    Ted> won't need to be confirmed*.  *If you receive another
    Ted> confirmation request, please ask
    Ted> diagnosticando at uol.com.br to include you in his/her
    Ted> authorized e-mail list.

    Ted> I won't be responding to this. Let the recipient simply
    Ted> not receive the mail. Of no great importance in this
    Ted> case, but a disadvantage to the recipient in the long
    Ted> run.

    Ted> I disapprove strongly of this mechanism, and want to
    Ted> oppose it.  There must be a few thousand subscribers to
    Ted> R-help. If the "Challenge" mechanism became widespread,
    Ted> then I would receive thousands of such messages. Rather
    Ted> than respond to all these, I would quit the list (and
    Ted> of course probably many others).  The "Challenge"
    Ted> mechanism would destroy the mailing-list community if
    Ted> it became widely adopted.

Exactly.
I've received such a message myself from the same "machine" and
-- as mailing list manager -- tried to find out more.

The problem is that diagnosticando at uol.com.br is not subscribed
to R-help. One other person is and I have written e-mail to that
address withOUT getting such a message back..

Again, I completely agree that it is absolutely inacceptable 
to subscribe from such a spam-blocking address.


    Ted> One reason I am posting this grumble to R-help is in
    Ted> the hope that I get a challenge to this one too. In
    Ted> that case, once and for all, I shall respond, so that
    Ted> the recipient will see this message and (I hope) do
    Ted> something about it, to eliminate the "Challenge"
    Ted> responder (I can't find the true recipient's email
    Ted> address from the "Challenge").

please let me (or R-help too) know what you find out.

Martin Maechler, ETH Zurich
(R-help mailing list maintainer)

    Ted> The recipient may be able to recognise themselves from
    Ted> the fact that they receive this message but not the
    Ted> message which triggered the response, which began:
    Ted> ======================================= On 24-Nov-04
    Ted> John wrote:
    >> Off hand, the costs of GPL'd software are not hidden at
    >> all.  R for instance demands that a would be user sit
    >> down and learn the language. This in turn pushes a user
    >> into learning more about statistics than the simple
    >> overview that Stat 1 presents a student.

    Ted> I'd see this as less a cost than a benefit!
    Ted> =======================================

    Ted> My apologies for bothering you with this if you didn't
    Ted> want to know about it.

    Ted> Best wishes to all, Ted.