port maintainer address

[Michelle Sullivan]

qjail1 wrote:
> Kurt Jaeger wrote:
>> Hi!
>>
>>> A year ago I was receiving loads of spam email on the maintainer
>>> email addresses used in the ports makefile. I created bug tickets to
>>> change the user name part of the email address for all the ports I
>>> maintain, but some how I missed the qjail2 port. Now that port says
>>> its maintained by ports at FreeBSD.org and the spam email has stopped.
>>>
>>> Since bugzilla uses the port maintainer email address as the way to
>>> identify the port maintainer, I no longer can post updates to qjail2
>>> port.
>>
>> We'll understand that the patch comes from you, so just submit it.
>>
>>> Why has Freebsd NOT done something to protect their port maintainers
>>> from spam.
>>
>> Because if you think that not having the email addresses in the port
>> protects you from spam, this probably will not scale. Spam defense is
>> not a task the FreeBSD project can also take on, in addition
>> to all the others.
>>
>
> In todays world the normal, customary, and prudent methodology is to
> protect a users email address from public view so its increasingly
> more difficult for it to be harvested for targets of spam. I ask WHY
> is the Freebsd ports system using a very old methodology that was
> designed over 20 years ago, before the birth of spam. The majority of
> customer websites and programming development websites all have
> protected their user email addresses, WHY NOT FREEBSD?

Actually that's the very reason I am a port maintainer

>
> It's way past the time that this problem gets the attention it deserves.
> Lets at least create a project to analyze the ports system "Maintainer
> email address" to see just what would be involved in populating it
> with a dummy value so every place it is viewable to the public the
> real content is masked, this includes the down loadable ports tree.
>

I'd rather give people email addresses to use and keep the real ones in
the tree easily scrape-able.

Michelle

-- 
Michelle Sullivan
http://www.mhix.org/