[Imc-tech] hidden posts:

[Sascha Meinrath]

fyi:  i sent a response to manuel:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 16:08:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sascha Meinrath <sascha at ucimc.org>
To: imc-newsroom-request at urbana.indymedia.org
Cc: eighthstreet at webtv.net
Subject: hidden posts:

Hi Manuel,

Thank you for writing to us.  Because you didn't post an e-mail address
with your newswire stories we have been unable to contact you about your
hidden posts.  We've been experiencing an inordinate amount of spam on our
website over the last few weeks from people who are purposefully abusing
the open publishing system.  We have been working to keep up with the
deluge.  Because we have no way to tell immediately if someone who posts
multiple stories on a given day is simply spamming us or rather is not
familiar with our web use policies, on occasion (and especially when we
don't have any way to contact a poster who is in violation of our web use
policy), we will hide stories on our news wire.

We have a web use policy which is linked to from our homepage and is
available at:  http://www.ucimc.org/website_policy.php3

In your specific case the decision was made because of the sheer number of
posts we were receiving from you:

"Flooding or Spamming of Posts - this is when a single individual posts
multiple times in a short period in a manner that indicates that the
poster's purpose is to flood the newswire or push other posts off the
front page of the IMC website, which typically only contains ten to twenty
of the most recent posts. This type of posting behavior can only truly be
identified after several occurrences, and depends heavily on the amount of
volume of posts. It can be difficult to stop because posters can change
screen names at a whim. Therefore the utmost care must be taken to make
sure that only posts that are made by a known "spammer" are hidden."

However, we always try to work with folks to help balance the individual
initiative of posters and the protection of the commons that is the
newswire.  We encourage the posting of timely information and news to our
wire and I am glad that you've taken the time to mention your concern.  We
would simply ask that you limit or combine postings so that they do not
dominate the news wire.  As always, the UCIMC is committed to maintaining
an open publishing system and welcomes additional ideas or proposals.

In the interim, given your willingness to abide by our web use policy, we
will cease hiding your posts.  In the future, providing contact
information allows us to address an issue before it becomes problematic.

Thanks again for your concern,

In solidarity,

--Sascha Meinrath
Urbana-Champaign IMC



> From: eighthstreet at webtv.net
> Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 23:09:23 -0400 (EDT)
> To: imc-newsroom at ucimc.org
> Subject: [Imc-newsroom] Sir, why are you folks canceling all my posts to this newswire?
>
> I know I'm publishing them correctly and I'd like to have an answer.
> I publish everything with the author name "TruePeace" & over the past
> week or so I've published at least 10 stories and haven't seen one on
> your site yet. Your screen comes up and tells me that my story was
> published all the time. Are you hiding them? If so, please explain why.
> This is supposed to be an OPEN publishing forum.
> Please respond to the email address above.
> Manuel
>
> "True peace is not merely the absence of tension,
> it is the presence of Justice."
>
>        Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.