[FYI] Die naechste DNS blacklist stellt ihren Dienst ein

[Martin Lesser <m-lesser@lesser-com.de>]

Auch wenn die Motivation diesmal nicht so negativ ist wie im September
bei monkeys.com - schade ist es allemal, zumal die easynet.nl Listen
wirklich gut gepflegt war.

Hat jemand eine Empfehlung für Ersatz?

Gruss

Martin

-- Begin forwarded message --
From: "easynet.nl abuse handling dept." <abuse@abuse.nl.easynet.net>
Subject: [spamtools] [easynet.nl] HEADS UP - the easynet.nl blacklists will be
  discontinued Dec 1.
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 14:44:40 +0100 (West-Europa (standaardtijd))


The easynet blacklists/spamfilters (blackholes.easynet.nl,
proxies.blackholes.easynet.nl, dynablock.easynet.nl,
spamdomains.blackholes.easynet.nl, and the easynet spamlists) will
be discontinued starting Dec 1 2003.

The zonefiles and associated files will be 'zero-sized' on that day.
The domains will continue to resolve for a long time, but they will
contain nothing more than the test records (127.0.0.2 and
example.com), so they will not catch anything.

Holy Crap!
- Yep.

FAQ?
- Sure.

Are you being DDos'ed out of existence?
- Nope. They probably tried. We didn't even notice it.

Are you being sued?
- Nope. They probably tried. We didn't even notice it.

Are you being threatened?
- Frankly, we will miss that part.

Are you tired?
- Damn right.

Are you giving up?
- That is not the right word. There are plenty of fine blacklists,
and new ones spring up every day. The wirehub/easynet lists served
their purpose, but others may serve that purpose equally well.

Isn't this all kinda sudden?
- Yes. Sometimes, you just know that it's time to say goodbye. And
the moment you know it, you must do it. Running blacklists on
anything less than 100% motivation and energy is not how it should
be done.

Anything else?
- Sure. These blacklists were maintained by a single person, all of
them. Every day. Listings, delistings, finding new DSL/cable ranges,
finding new open proxies, writing better scripts, handling all
email, running statistics, publishing overviews, providing rsync
areas, DNS tranfers. You name it. TINW. There's an I. And I want my
life back, at least a little ;)

Life?
- Yes. Maybe not as we know it. Over the past 3-4 years, the
maintainer of these lists has worked 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a
day running these lists and handling all tasks and email associated
with them. Not a single day has passed without at least processing
delisting requests (the bare minimum).  And then there was the day
job (which was really nothing more than running an ISP's server farm
- peanuts, it's FreeBSD).

Is that all?
- There's more to it, but the details do not really concern you.
Let's just say that the integrity of these lists might have been in
jeopardy in the long run. There are two cardinal sins when it comes
to blacklists: 1.  putting/keeping someone on them who should not be
- 2. not putting someone on them who really should be. Avoiding '1'
is a matter of discipline and a thick skin.  Avoiding '2' is a
matter of being totally independent from all pressures surrounding
you. Avoiding '2' has become increasingly difficult, and we'd rather
stop with our integrity fully intact and our reputation unharmed.
That is about now. Well, next week.

We?
- Yes, dropping that habit will take some time ;)

Will you be back?
- Probably. Lurking.

Will you miss us?
- Depends on how well target practice goes.

Should we give up The Good Fight?
- Hell no, we're winning. There's plenty of enthusiasm, and there
are plenty of new and old blacklists doing fine work. Take your
pick. Keep fighting. Fight for your spam laws. Educate. Annoy. Sue
if you must. It's up to you now.

Is there anything we can do?
- Yes. Spread the word, please. Post to your local/national abuse
groups, inform anyone you know who uses these lists, update your
configurations.  Nothing will break after Dec 1, but there will come
a day when these names (including the old Wirehub ones, which still
resolve) will cease to resolve. This will probably be announced.

Will the lists be back under a different name?
- Probably not. It started out as 'doing some extra work to stop
spam', because .. well .. FreeBSD and such, plenty of time left. And
why not donate that work to the Internet community as well. In the
long run. it turned out to be 'getting some sleep and maybe
something to eat between emails and zone updates'. Sometimes, enough
is just enough.

Can't you just maintain one or two of the lists?
- What did I just say?

I have a question!
- The email address will probably work throughout December. It may
drop dead after that. Hope I won't.

Goodbye all. It was invigorating, it was fun, it was necessary.
Don't give up.

Ben.

-- End forwarded message --

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