models, millions, and Candrama junk mail

[Edward Mullaly]

A few members of Candrama have been kind enough to bring to my attention the
fact that some junk mail (spam) has been associating with the
usually-learned discourse of this group.  While one could argue that such
documentation of the world's cultural psyche should be of academic interest
-- the most recent uninvited site advertising itself as the place "where
fantasy meets reality" actually provides a not inaccurate description of the
theatrical world -- I do agree that receiving such mail should be a matter
of choice for the individual Candrama subscriber.

Universities generally, and UNB in this particular case, are doing what they
can to block such unwanted missives.  UNB has a 'filter list' which
automatically checks the incoming mailing addresses to see if there are mass
mailings coming our way.  It monitors sites with suspicious quantitative
activity and, should the activity persist, simply blocks incoming mailings
from that site.  Further, UNB's listserv program has its own anti-spamming
filters for incoming mail: certain words or phrases in the title cause the
filter to kick in, etc.  Universities are very much concerned with spam,
less for reasons of morality or Big Brotherdom than for the clogging effect
mass mailings can have on the whole computer system.

We, as the Candrama list, really have only two options at the present time.
We can continue to have what is so far only the occasional piece of spam,
and simply delete it unread when it appears on our 'new mail' screen --
which I imagine is what most of us do to at least half the email that comes
to us anyway.  The alternative, which would solve the problem entirely, is
to turn CanDrama into a 'private' list, a list limited to its own membership
in terms of mailings.  Such a draconian solution would block requests for
information, etc, from people around the world interested in Canadian
theatre; but it would also block incoming spam (well, except for membership
spam).

My own thought, as webmeister for Candrama, is simply to delete such
messages, with their obviously unwanted invites, from my list of unread
mail, and to support Computer Services attempts to walk the thin line
between protecting privacy and not becoming the moral censors of our age.
If the membership thinks otherwise, let's discuss this.  Obviously, should
CanDrama become the electronic equivalent of an unreconstructed 42nd St, we
are free to look at the alternatives available at that future time.  And for
those who feel that any filtering of messages is censorship of some sort, I
note this morning that the Alta Vista search engine, when queried for sites
with the word 'porn', offers for the viewer's delectation 1,410,570
possibilities.  We live in interesting times!
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Edward Mullaly                Consensus is unnatural for us.
Department of English         We're an English Department.  Let's
University of New Brunswick,  act like one.
Fredericton, NB  E3B 5A3
CANADA  (506) 453-4676                    -- Russo, 'Straight Man'
   fax: (506) 453-5069