Re: [Asrg] Soundness of silence

[Ian Eiloart <[e-mail]>]

--On 12 June 2009 20:28:08 +0200 Alessandro Vesely <[e-mail]> wrote:

> I've only been subscribed to this list for 18 months, so you will forgive
> me if I haven't yet grasped how it works. I've been receiving spam for
> much longer than that, and lazily waited for someone to reel off the
> rules to kill that plague. It never happened. Why? When I subscribed, I
> thought I'd at least understand that...

Can I suggest that a URL for the draft might be useful?

>
> Understanding this list's dynamics is not easier. As in many lists,
> messages that start a new thread are relatively rare. I don't have
> message-per-thread statistics, but usually there are many responses. Some
> messages get no response; for example, Frank sent a message on Spam
> Statistics on April 28, and nobody answered, AFAIK.
>
> In particular, I'm puzzled as to why I got no answer to my yesterday's
> message. A previous message by Amir, DNS-based Email Sender
> Authentication Mechanisms: a Critical Review, had several responses. The
> subject of my I-D is almost the same, an SMTP extension to manage those
> authentication mechanisms. However, I had exactly zero response. The same
> happened for a similar message I sent on May 25. I cannot believe it is
> by chance. Since it happened twice in a row, there has to be a sound
> reason.
>
> Possible guesses:
>
> * Because nobody is interested in the subject.
> Already ruled out: it is the same subject of Amir's paper (rDNS, SPF,
> DKIM, and the like.) How come nobody is interested?
>
> * Because nobody has the time to retrieve the I-D from the web.
> Doesn't work, by the same argument nobody would have read Amir's paper.
>
> * Because it is poorly written.
> Well, my English is not that good, but used to be readable. Also, at
> first I thought an I-D's introduction should only give a hint at
> interpreting the behavior described in the rest of the text, in order to
> let readers draw the consequences more freely. Now I've changed it to
> describe the use model. I admit that's confusing, but not to the point of
> not discussing it: in facts, I've discussed it with a handful of people
> already, but never on a list. Hm... _that_'s puzzling.
>
> * Because it is written by me.
> Naah... paranoid.
>
> * Because nobody is interested in yet another anti-spam tool.
> I could understand that. But this does not explain why everyone resisted
> to the temptation of telling me why I'm an asshole.
>
> * Because someone wrote privately to everyone banning public answers.
> Unbelievable, paranoid, I don't think would ever have worked as intended.
>
> * Because vhlo is not endorsed by John.
> Not really. John himself told me to write to the list. Possibly, he did
> not answer because he wanted to see if anybody _else_ was interested.
>
> * Because it is not endorsed by the IESG.
> Uh? What is the IESG?
>
> * Because the referred paper is an I-D.
> Hmm... this list has been discussing I-Ds before. However, it may be that
> a public message about an I-D would have be classified as rough
> dissension and thereby commit the IETF to do something with it, such as
> assigning it a "dead" state. I'm not much into the standardization
> process, but such a rule would seem too bureaucratically silly to be
> operative.
>
>
> Yet, it happens every time. I bet I can reproduce that behavior
> consistently, look at this: "Hey, I've written take 3". See any response?
> No. So, why?
>
> FWIW, and for your convenience, I paste below the original text that
> inspired the title of this rant.
>
>
> Hello darkness my old friend,
> I've come to talk with you again
> Because a vision softly creeping
> left it's seeds while I was sleeping
> And the vision that was planted in my brain
> still remains, within the sounds of silence
>
> In restless dreams I walked alone,
> narrow streets of cobblestone
> 'neath the halo of a streetlamp
> I turned my collar to the cold and damp
> when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
> split the night... and touched the sound of silence
>
> And in the naked light I saw
> ten thousand people maybe more
> people talking without speaking
> people hearing without listening
> people writing songs that voices never share
> noone dare, disturb the sound of silence
>
> Fools said I you do not know,
> silence like a cancer grows,
> hear my words that I might teach you
> take my arms that I might reach you
> but my words, like silent raindrops fell...
> and echoed the will of silence
>
> And the people bowed and prayed,
> to the neon god they made
> And the sign flashed out its warning
> in the words that it was forming
> And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
> are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls
> and whisper the sounds of silence.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Asrg mailing list
> [e-mail]
> http://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/asrg



-- 
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
01273-873148 x3148
For new support requests, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/help/