[R] R-help going to become "subscriber-only"

[Marc Schwartz]

Martin Maechler wrote:
> Dear R-help mailing list readers,
> 
> After some discussion among R foundation members (and friends),
> we have agreed that ``the spammer mafia (*)'' has momentarily won a
> battle:
> 
> After more than ten years of open and free mailing lists devoted
> to R (development, use, etc),
> the increasing volume of spam {quadrupling within one year, I'm
> told by an expert} and the slickness of the spam programmers
> have lead to regular leaking of spam messages into R-help (and
> other mailing lists).  Even though our filters catch > 99.9%
> (probably even > 99.99%) of all the spam, our mail server has
> now occasionally been blacklisted because of the R-help spams.
> 
> The consequence of this will be that .. before the weekend ..
> only __e-mail addresses__ subscribed to R-help will be allowed to post to
> R-help without any moderation, and we are even considering outright
> rejection all non-subscribers, these latter decision coming
> later.
> 
> Consequence: 
>    Please subscribe to R-help __ at least in digest mode __
>    now, and ``spread the word''
>    so that you will be able to continue asking questions 
>    and getting advice here.
> 
> Martin Maechler, ETH Zurich
> 
> ... a sad list administrator 
>     looking back to the good old times ...
> 
> -----
> (*) I've been told that "Mafia" is quite correct here:
>     Spammer-programmers who want to leave the business are
>     life-threatened; CIOs of big anti-spam organizations are
>     getting threats...

Martin,

I salute your efforts over the years to keep this list clean from the
annoyances of spam and related issues. You have facilitated an amazing
resource on behalf of this wonderful community.

It is unfortunate that this step has become necessary, but know that
your efforts are most appreciated and that these decisions are supported.

Regards,

Marc Schwartz