[spam-stopper] Long-term plans

[Roy Schestowitz]

_____/ On Tue 20 Sep 2005 08:09:52 BST, [Matt Mullenweg] wrote : \_____

I have just noticed automattic.com. I never realised it was there until 
I looked
at the code... registered with GoDaddy.com and already some very 
descent status!
The domain name is an excellent one (very catchy) and I was surprised 
it hadn't
been taken.


> Assuming this whole things works, and we don't know if it will yet, 
> I'm still figuring out how to make it self-sustaining in the long 
> term.


I am sure that many people will voluntarily donate a pittance, especially
bearing in mind what a hassle the project saves them from.


> The obvious answer is to have it be a paid-only service, so all costs 
> are covered from the beginning, but I really feel like the web needs 
> serious help with comment spam, and charging for basic protection 
> isn't going to make the web a better place.
>
> I would be more comfortable with something where it was free for 
> regular people, and only businesses or enterprises paid (enough to 
> support everybody).


I was thinking along the same lines. BSD springs to mind.


> There may be "keys" or accounts at some point to prevent abuse.
>
> However the plugin and API are designed to be pretty easy to 
> recreate, so if someone wanted to run their own spam service they 
> could easily.
                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^

You mean "anti-spam", right? *smile*

API's that are too open would also allow the (more cunning among the) spammers
to shrewdly prepare spam that penetrates. Be careful. For the same reasons
(among others, e.g. competition), big G will not reveal their special recipe.
SEO's can really muck up the SERP's as one /recent/ story shows <
http://tinyurl.com/crswj >.

Roy

-- 
Roy S. Schestowitz      | "Avoid missing ball for higher score"
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