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Date:	Thu, 6 May 2004 10:25:49 PDT7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: list delays gone

Content Type: text/plain

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Mark Abramowitz wrote:
>
> Thanks for whoever did what to solve a problem with delays
> in receiving list posts over the last couple days!
>
> I now seem to be getting messages that I post right away.

It's me, wandering to my computer at 4 a.m. (when SCOUG server
maintenance won't mess up some other SCOUG member who is using the site)
and cleaning the spam out of the various InetMail directories.

When a spammer sends messages formed in certain ways, InetMail is unable
to send those messages and the mail queue grows. Since each message
"send attempt" takes time, it can be dozens of minutes before a valid
message is finally sent out. _Also_, there's a finite amount of time
required to send to each member of a list, so the first address on the
list gets the message much sooner than the last address on the list.

There's also a certain type of spammer message that causes an InetMail
message looping condition. This uses up a lot of machine time and makes
other things run slower. There was only one looping message at 4 a.m.
this morning; usually there are several each day.

If the spammers hit the SCOUG server really hard between the time
InetMail is cleaned out and the time you send a valid message, there
will be a delay. If your message precedes the spammers, the response is
much quicker.

- Peter

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