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Suggestion: Member's web space & SuSE contact change
by Martyn Drake 21 May '01

21 May '01

But I'd thought I would like to offer ALUG members 100Mb free web space (and free of any banners!) with a URL either hanging off of www.alug.org.uk or hostname.alug.org.uk. Stats provided. The only catch is please don't generate 10Gb of traffic per month, otherwise that'll cost me a small fortune :)) So no p0rn! :) The main ALUG site has actually moved from Webfusion to Rackspace where it's (a) cheaper, (b) more bandwidth available, (c) far better connectivity and (d) support actually have a clue if things go wibbly. Now, I've also received SuSE Professional 7.1 from the kind folk at SuSE and having finished using it myself (I'm now exploring the joys of Red Hat 7.1 and Mandrake 8.0). As I'm now leaving Norfolk permanently for the joys of Kingston Upon Thames in London, I'd like to forward this on to someone (as well as any future updates) so that it can be properly distributed as these days I can't make as many meetings as usual. That's my updates for this millenium. :) Regards, Martyn

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Re: [Alug] Configuring network card (again)
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 21 May '01

21 May '01

>>....and do insmod 3c5x9 Good grief! I did this and it showed the correct info. Strange, I thought, and proceeded to bring up the interface. This also suddenly is working. (hmmmmm) And eth0 is also showing in ifconfig. All I can think is that when i ran modconf I did two things - deleted the dummy0 module and tried installing the 3c509, the latter which just brought up errors yesterday. Perhaps restarting the computer and having no dummy0 in place caused the eth0 mod to do whatever it needed to do properly? Still not pinging anything on the network though. Pinging my own IP shows it is using loopback, and tcpdump then shows for trying to reach anything else on the network: 13:40:32.704186 eth0 > arp who-has jenny?TCL tell TRX850/TCL (0:a0:24:2:cf:26) 13:40:35.694822 lo > TRX850/TCL > TRX850/TCL: icmp: host jenny/TCL unreachable [tos 0xc0] Does this mean anything to anyone? Heff! Heff! A hoffable herralump! Thanks, Jenny. PS. Next time I splash out on the netgear.

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Weekly IRC meeting reminder
by Adam Bower 21 May '01

21 May '01

This is the automated ALUG irc meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an irc meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.openprojects.net in the #alug channel, you can take a look at www.openprojects.net to get more info on the openprojects network. Popular irc clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and ircII on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.bitchx.com http://www.xchat.org http://freshmeat.net http://www.epicsol.org/ (for Brett!) Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Re: [Alug] BTTV atlast
by MJ Ray 21 May '01

21 May '01

> > Can anybody tell me when the next meeting (in or around Norwich) > > will be please? I still need help persuading the network and sound > > devices in my machine to work. I was hoping for mid-June, but it seems that the May meeting is currently Missing In Action. Is it going to happen, or do we just go ahead and plan Yet Another Norwich Meeting for June 10th? For probably the penultimate time, I can arrange a room at UEA, but can anyone else (preferably from near Norwich) act as co-ordinator? It's quite a simple task, just keeping some lists of who's bringing what and who wants to see what, etc, and emailing us to move us along. History shows I'm very bad at it, though. -- MJR (PS: Today, David, I am going to be a muppet who can't tell his fs from his rs.)

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Re: [Alug] Configuring network card (again)
by David Freeman 20 May '01

20 May '01

--- Raphael Mankin <raph(a)panache.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > On 20-May-01 David Freeman wrote: > > > > --- Raphael Mankin <raph(a)panache.demon.co.uk> wrote: > >> In general, your primary net card should be compiled in and not a > >> module. You > >> can get away with it if you add to your conf.modules (or > >> modules.conf) a line > >> like > >> alias eth0 3c509 (or whatever the module is called) > >> The alternative is to ensure that an explciit modprobe is done for > >> the card > >> before you try to configure the network. Dig around in /etc/rc* to > >> find out > >> where to put it. > > > > Why should it be compiled in? surely this is a bad idea as every > time > > you change card you need to recompile the whole kernel. > [snip] > > In general, I agree with you, and that is fine for those who are hapy > with > doing all the tinkering that is necessary in places like > modules.conf. > Howver, newbies are likely to be bitten by this, and in the > particular case of > network cards, which need to have their modules loaded quite early in > the > startup sequence, it is easier to have them compiled in. Why? it means that it isn't as versitile and that you can only support a small number of cards compiled in. Its better to have one of the init scripts go and load the required modules, its not even difficult to write tool which will aid choosing the correct modules. That way you can just distribute modules as extras etc... To me it just makes sense. > I do exactly the same as you do in my Slackware system, and for the > same > reasons: I am forever swapping network cards around. However for > simple usage > stick to simple configurations; you are less likely to be bitten by > something > unexpected. Which requires a complex kernel recompile when you want to upgrade from 10Mbps to 100Mbps? Thanks D __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

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ALUG Librarian stuff
by brodders＠cwcom.net 20 May '01

20 May '01

This is a repost as the original didn't seem to turn up - or if it did, no - one commented! ======================================================== ALUG Librarian and Security stuff Hi. Been thinking over things and have some thoughts re Librarian & Security. Librarian ========= Who volunteers for this? The Librarian has to be present at all meets and must oversee all returns / loans, maintain the database, fixe occasional errors, chase people for overdues, carry out stocktakes - and bring the current ALUG stock with them to every meet in case a loan is wanted. May need a truck. I don't like this - would you do it? - so I've been kicking around the idea of allowing casual person-person item passing. These need to be verified transactions on the database otherwise fraud is simple. The protocol I suggest below is - good enough?? Comments appreciated. What I've got is: Stock items are scattered i.e. held by who-ever-has-them-right-now. A potential borrower searches the library database and discovers Item X. They request Item X. The database sends an email to the current holder saying to bring Item X to the next meet. The database generates a random "release key" for the trade and emails it to the requestor. Eventually Item X and the release key change hands. The old holder enters the release key into the database and the transaction is verified. Kicker: Until the release key is in & verified the old holder is responsible for Item X; responsibility gets passed to the new borrower by entering the key. Further, requests for popular items can be stacked (that's the idea behind having requests as transactions; these can be ordered by item / time sequence making a request stack - as well as other very useful life-history stuff). Is this adequate?? There is still a need for a librarian - but the job is much less onerous, for it frees them from compulsory attendance, involvement in every transaction & removes the "drag-the-stock-about" problem. Also, an item swap is not geographically limited to a meet - could be down a local pub etc. Again please kick holes in it people! Security ======== Other than people hacking in and diddling the transactions database, items database etc to generally kill the system there is a security issue over the names & addresses and account passwords. I want to encrypt the lot; ideally the entire database. And the transactions from server to client must be secure too otherwise login accounts get compromised. This is a job for an expert. I can get the database functional - but I would not put the system live in unencrypted form. Also does this complicate backup/restore/maintenance? Ill databases are tricky; an ill, encrypted database might be quite irrecoverable & un-de-encryptable. Security Expert Needed! Steve

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Re: [Alug] BTTV atlast
by David Freeman 20 May '01

20 May '01

I can't but if you send this mail to the list I think they may be able to help Thanks D PS I have CC'd this to the list for you. --- linux user stuff <linux(a)wymondham.demon.co.uk> wrote: > On Fri 18 May, David Freeman wrote: > > As those of you who have been to meetings recently and followed a > > number of threads will know I have been trying to get my WinTV card > to > > Can anybody tell me when the next meeting (in or around Norwich) will > be > please? I still need help persuading the network and sound devices in > my > machine to work. > > -- > __ __| |_ __ __ .------------------------------------------. > / _/ _` \ V V / | mailto:linux@wymondham.demon.co.uk | > \__\__,_|\_/\_/ |__________________________________________| > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

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Re: [Alug] List news
by MJ Ray 19 May '01

19 May '01

I've told a couple of people this, so let's say it to the entire list. If you think you are subscribed from the wrong email address, it will be faster to do it yourself from the web interface and resubscribe from your email client. Then it will definitely get the right email address for you. Unsub at http://rabbit.stu.uea.ac.uk/cgi-bin/list/alug (you may need to ask for a password to be emailed to you). Resubscribe with an email to alug-subscribe(a)stu.uea.ac.uk (I hope that's right!) -- MJR

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List news
by MJ Ray 19 May '01

19 May '01

Just to keep you up to date: - The main ALUG list now only allows subscribers to post. You should ensure that your email *envelope* addresses are correct. It should at least be a returnable address, else you won't know that there's a problem until the list admins swing into action. Today, oms101@charly is our invalid address. It's just a case of making sure your email software is installed properly. - There will be an -announce list sent out as digests at irregular intervals and everyone can submit articles which will be queued up for review. Not quite sure when this will appear, but alug@stu should get a copy anyway, I think. Enjoy.... -- MJR

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BTTV atlast
by David Freeman 18 May '01

18 May '01

As those of you who have been to meetings recently and followed a number of threads will know I have been trying to get my WinTV card to work properly under Linux. And finally I have got it to work! I now have a TV in my room. Thanks to all who helped and advised Thanks D __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

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RE: [Alug] Configuring network card (again)
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 18 May '01

18 May '01

Thanks, Owen. I'll take the plunge on Monday with a dos disk then (my bro has one). I don't know why I am worrying, as i have nothing of import on there, it's just set up to play with really. Things have gone from bad to worse as usual, though, as I discovered from insmod that it thinks io=300 and IRQ=11. /modutils/3c509 was edited to show io=280 and IRQ=10. I edited modutils to reflect what the card thinks it is, but it won't show up at all now - no eth0. So what I am being told to do using the dos disk is to get into the NIC and tell that that it has to be 280 and 10, rather than the other way around? Many sorrows for the idiotic incomprehension. Most people seem to install linux and either everything works or they kind of understand this stuff by osmosis of some kind. Jenny

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Re: [Alug] Modems
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 15 May '01

15 May '01

John: Another link you could try to see if it is compatible is http://members.tripod.co.uk/uk_radio_amateurs/modemlin.html Good luck! I never did get my diamond modem to work. jenny.

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Modems
by John Squires 14 May '01

14 May '01

Help! I am a new user to Linux, and I have recently installed Mandrake 7.1. It has been having problems detecting my modem. I would like to know if there is a patch or utility which can be used to overcome this problem? as I feel blind without the use of a modem, or what type of modem would be best to use with a Linux OS, help! I live in the Waterbeach/Cambridge area. John (Desperate) Squires. (My current modem is a HSP56 MicroModem made by PCtel, inc)

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Weekly IRC meeting reminder
by Adam Bower 14 May '01

14 May '01

This is the automated ALUG irc meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an irc meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.openprojects.net in the #alug channel, you can take a look at www.openprojects.net to get more info on the openprojects network. Popular irc clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and ircII on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.bitchx.com http://www.xchat.org http://freshmeat.net http://www.epicsol.org/ (for Brett!) Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Well, we may need a license to work now!
by David Freeman 13 May '01

13 May '01

Just when you though the RIP bill was bad enough, Mr Jack - you will only do what I want and I will read you email - Straw has had passed a new Bill - Private Security Industry Bill [HL] - which will require everyone to have a license to be in the security business, which due to (either intentially or not) bad wording will effect those of us in the IT industry who provide security services! The Text of the bill (now ACT) can be found at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cmbills/067/2… Thanks D __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

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Linux on Macs
by Joss Winn 12 May '01

12 May '01

Is anyone on this list using Linux on a Macintosh? If not, would anyone care for a summary of the current state of Linux on Macs? There are some interesting things going on. For the most part, it is very similar to Linux on x86, but there are some noteworthy differences to consider. I hardly every use the Apple OS these days (I triple boot with Apple OS 9.1, Apple OS X -BSD/Darwin - and Linux), but I would still buy Apple hardware for Linux. Just curious. I could write something up if people are interested. Nothing evangelical....just a summary of things going on in the Linux on Mac world. Pros and cons..... Joss

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Re: [Alug] ALug FAQ submissions wanted
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 11 May '01

11 May '01

Q>What happens at an ALUG meeting? Do I need to bring anything? A>A meeting tends to consist of an informal gathering where members turn up with various computers and network them together, then compare various OS, linux-related hints, swap software etc. It isn't necessary to bring any hardware along, however: you can come just to watch and learn, or ask questions. Bring biscuits! Q> Is it okay to post basic *newbie* questions to the list, or will that be annoying to other more hardcore members? A>{heh heh! Still waiting to find out the answer on this one} ;-)

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Backing up
by David Freeman 11 May '01

11 May '01

All, I am thinking it may be a good time to start thinking about backing up the data on my HDD. I am after a cheap method and I though about getting a CDRW drive now they are sub £100. Is this a good idea? can I just use tar to put it all on a cdrw each week? What would people recommend? Will any CDRW drive work with Linux? Thanks D __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/

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ALug FAQ submissions wanted
by Adam Bower 11 May '01

11 May '01

Hi All As I promised many moons ago I started writting a FAQ today as I am feeling ill. I just had a thought it should really be a collaborative document so as I got bored after 15 minutes of writing I decided I would put up the text I have written and ask for submissions. I have a week off work next week and could really spend some time on this so could you please send anything you would like in the FAQ to me, could you also make sure you CC: it to adamb(a)thebowery.co.uk The kind of submissions I am looking for are genuine question/response not just a bunch of useful links, If I receive a similar Q/A from more than one person then I will re-write where appropriate. Make sure you include the name you want to be listed as under the contributers bit at the end of the text also, bit I will not put in anybodys email address unless asked to. Please find the first bit of text attached below, If anyone thinks it is really crap and completley the wrong way of going about things please let me know now before I pour all of my heart into it ;-) Also if anyone has any grevious complaint about me doing this please make it public now. Adam ALug FAQ Version 0.01 Current maintainer abower(a)zeus.com Last Updated 09/May/2001 14:17 DISCLAIMER This is a very early document and nothing in it is to be taken at face value! This is intended to be a useful FAQ for people wanting to learn more about the Anglian Linux user group, The documentation contained here may be complete lies or incorrect. If you disagree with something contained here please contact the current maintainer given at the top of this document. The ALug gives no responsibility for anything that is incorrect breaks your computer, someone elses computer, causes your house to burn down or someone elses we also accept no responsibility if this document causes the end of the world, invasion by aliens or causes you to be dragged through a wormhole into another dimension. What is the ALug? The ALug is the Anglian Linux user group, we are based in the UK and primarily cover the countys of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and Essex although members are encouraged from all over the universe and will be made to feel welcome. We are quite diverse in geographic location even as far as having members in Japan. What does the ALug do? We exists primarily to advocate the use of Linux as an mainstream computer operating system and provide support to beginners and hardened veterans. We are a social group who try to arrange regular meetings throughout East-anglia to provide advocacy, help and have a chat over things not only related to computers. We have a mailing list for people to post to with problems they are having with Linux and GNU software and for discussion of Linux related items. We also have a weekly meeting held on Irc where discussion can be very wide ranging. (see below for more info on Irc) What the ALug does not do? We are not a secret society planning to take over the world while worshipping a giant Penguin called Tux. (honest) What is acceptable for discussion? Generally anything to do with *nix like operating systems and related software current related media news.

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Re: [Alug] Next Meeting
by brodders＠cwcom.net 11 May '01

11 May '01

Ditto. If Norwich then weekends only (near Ipswich fine during week...) Steve > >>How do people feel about weekday evening meetings? >Personally, living in Burwell, I wouldn't be able to make them. > > > >_______________________________________________ >alug, the Anglian Linux User Group list >Send list replies to alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk >http://rabbit.stu.uea.ac.uk/cgi-bin/listinfo/alug >See the website for instructions on digest or unsub! >

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Re: [Alug] Next Meeting
by Jenny_Hopkins＠toby-churchill.com 11 May '01

11 May '01

>How do people feel about weekday evening meetings? Personally, living in Burwell, I wouldn't be able to make them.

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Re: Backing up
by Joss Winn 11 May '01

11 May '01

> > Message: 3 > Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 12:03:32 -0700 (PDT) > From: David Freeman <david_freeman(a)rocketmail.com> > Reply-To: David_freeman(a)rocketmail.com > To: alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk > Subject: [Alug] Backing up > > All, > > I am thinking it may be a good time to start thinking about backing up > the data on my HDD. I am after a cheap method and I though about > getting a CDRW drive now they are sub 」100. Is this a good idea? can I > just use tar to put it all on a cdrw each week? What would people > recommend? Will any CDRW drive work with Linux? > > Thanks > > D > > This sounds good. It's very roughly what I do. My methods below might sound OTT but it has saved me in the past. Take what you like from it.... I run a nightly cronjob that backs up all the changes in the last 24hrs from my home folder (usually about 20mb). I also run a weekly cronjob that does the same (about 100mb). Those tar files are sent to a partition entirely separate from anything Linux. To my Macintosh partition actually. Then, when that 'backup' partition gets full, like it is doing now, I back up my entire home folder (1gb) and burn the lot onto a couple of CDs. I do this about once a month. Sure, I have multiple backups of a lot of stuff, but I like it that way, because if I make a stupid error somewhere down the line, I can usually just go back to the backup I made the day before the error and rescue those backed up files. It works as a kind of archive of backups. When I feel confident that a set of backups is no use to me any more, I proudly use the CD to put my coffee on. This may well sound like unnecessary repetition, but it's all automated, so I don't do anything except burn a few CDs every month. My CD burner is firewire, so it won't work in Linux just yet, which is why I use a back up partition. I could buy some USB storage, but I'm willing to wait for decent firewire support in Linux. USB is so bloody slow. Like I said, the above very recently saved me from redoing four months of work.... cheers joss p.s. it's a good idea to run the cronjob so it avoids backing up your browser cache. That keeps the tar size down quite considerably.

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Next Meeting
by MJ Ray 11 May '01

11 May '01

Are we still hoping for a meeting at the end of May? Has something been arranged and I missed it? Someone from UEA has suggested that the next meeting at UEA shouldn't be at a weekend. How do people feel about weekday evening meetings? Personally, I'd not be overjoyed and suspect room bookings might be more difficult (Union House not really available because of Ents, so need to use main university buildings), but if it's what people want... -- MJR

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ALUG Library: Librarian and Security stuff
by brodders＠cwcom.net 09 May '01

09 May '01

ALUGL Librarian and Security stuff Hi. Been thinking over things and have some thoughts re Librarian & Security. Librarian =========== Who volunteers for this? The Librarian has to be present at all meets and must oversee all returns / loans, maintain the database, fixe occasional errors, chase people for overdues, carry out stocktakes and bring the current ALUG stock with them to every meet in case a loan is wanted. May need a truck I dont like this would you do it? so Ive been kicking around the idea of allowing casual person-person item passing. These need to be verified transactions on the database otherwise fraud is simple. The protocol I suggest below is good enough?? Comments appreciated. What Ive got is: Stock items are scattered i.e. held by who-ever-has-them-right-now. A potential borrower searches the library database and discovers Item X. They request Item X. The database sends an email to the current holder saying to bring Item X to the next meet. The database generates a random release key for the trade and emails it to the requestor. Eventually Item X and the release key change hands. The old holder enters the release key into the database and the transaction is verified. Kicker: Until the release key is in & verified the old holder is responsible for Item X; responsibility gets passed to the new borrower by entering the key. Further, requests for popular items can be stacked (thats the idea behind having requests as transactions; these can be ordered by item / time sequence making a request stack as well as other very useful life-history stuff). Is this adequate?? There is still a need for a librarian but the job is much less onerous, for it frees them from compulsory attendance, involvement in every transaction & removes the drag-the-stock-about problem. Also, an item swap is not geographically limited to a meet could be down a local pub etc. Again please kick holes in it people! Security =========== Other than people hacking in and diddling the transactions database, items database etc to generally kill the system there is a security issue over the names & addresses and account passwords. I want to encrypt the lot; ideally the entire database. And the transactions from server to client must be secure too otherwise login accounts get compromised. This is a job for an expert. I can get the database functional but I would not put the system live in unencrypted form. Also does this complicate backup/restore/maintenance? Ill databases are tricky; an ill, encrypted database might be quite irrecoverable & un-de-encryptable. Security Expert Needed! Steve

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Spam Blockers
by KEV＠hartmann.dk 09 May '01

09 May '01

Hi, IMHO option 3 should work against most. Kevvy alug-admin@stu .uea.ac.uk To: alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk cc: 06/05/01 06:26 Subject: alug digest, Vol 1 #223 - 9 msgs Please respond to alug Message: 7 To: alug(a)stu.uea.ac.uk From: MJ Ray <markj(a)cloaked.freeserve.co.uk> Organization: Cat-killingly bad Date: 06 May 2001 01:16:23 +0100 Subject: [Alug] Increasing spam We're getting more spam now. There are a number of options open to us: 1. Can whoever has posted our mailing list address on a web site *please* remove it again and email alug-admin(a)stu.uea.ac.uk to let us know? 2. We can lock the list down so that only subscribed addresses can sent without being approved. 3. We can lock the list down so that only emails with [Alug] in the subject line are allowed through. 4. We can try to fight a rear-guard action and try to block obvious spammers. 5. We can hold anything which looks like it might possibly be spam for approval 6. We can ask Brett to hook the list software up to ORBS or MAPS. Opinions/votes? I hope that option 1 would work, but I quite like option 3 too. -- MJR --__--__--

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