About bleachbot, "NoCeM" Usenet Anti-Spam Bot
What is NoCeM ?
In short, a (almost) real-time system to broadcast lists of unacceptable messages posted on Usenet groups. By "unacceptable", it can be for technical reasons (excessive posting, floods) or for policy reasons (spamming). NoCeM is the perfect companion of Cleanfeed.
Please check out the NoCeM FAQ for more information.
What is bleachbot ?
It is a group of NoCeM feeds, aimed to reduce spam/floods on Usenet groups.
Why am I seeing empty messages from bleachbot@httrack.com in my favourite group ?
For two reasons:
- Spams have been detected in this group and bleachbot attempted to clean them using control messages
- The server you are using is misconfigured and is showing these control messages that should never be seen by users
Ask your administrator or internet service provider to fix its server, or use one of the public servers.
Some "alt.binaries" news providers, such as Giganews, are known to have such bogus handling (all cancel messages are shown in their respective groups), in addition not to have any decent spam filtering. Ask their support to improve their text groups handling, or choose another provider (why are you paying for a bad service when you can have a good one at no cost ?).
What are these feeds ?
Are these feeds guaranteed ?
No, absolutely not. The feeds are provided without any warranty. Use them at your own risks!
Where are these feeds published ?
In news.lists.filters
Can I check out what is being published before using it ?
Sure. Just go in news.lists.filters, and read messages from bleachbot@httrack.com. All notices embed the sender/date/subject/path in comment so that a human can control what is advertised.
I'm seeing many announces of articles that seem okay. What's going on ?
False positives and errors can happen. But most probably, the notices are targeting advanced flood attacks, such as Hipcrime denial of service attacks, consisting of randomly generated articles, using previously posted Usenet articles, and using the identity of previous posters. It is very hard to spot them using regular filtering systems (such as filters based on subject or sender)
What if I do not trust these feeds ?
Just do not use them. If your server is using them, ask your administrator.
What if my server does not yet use these feeds ?
Ask your news administrator to install NoCeM, and to use the feeds described here.
What if my news administrator refuses to use these feeds ?
Choose another server, or use a client that accepts nocem notices (such as Gnus)
Why my news administrator refuses to filter Usenet spam ?
Dunno. Because of lazyness, lack of interest, or more probably because many big commercial news servers are now dedicated to "binaries" (ie. warez) and not text groups (ie. discussions).
I am using Google Groups, and I see a lot of spam. What can I do ?
Google Groups is not a news server, but an archive, and is currently not using any filtering system, including NoCeM, which turns many groups to junkyard due to the spam threshold.
Ask your Internet Provider for a real news server access, with proper filtering, or use a public server.
What is the PGP key being used ?
The PGP key is located here.
What is the nocem.ctl line to add ?
bleachbot@httrack.com:spam,site
Where can I download NoCeM ?
Check out the The NoCeM Unix Client
How to install NoCeM on INN ?
See the "Configuring INN For NoCeM" tutorial
Where can I find a public, spam-filtered server ?
Note: you will need a news client such as Thunderbird or Outlook Express to access these servers, which is the most efficient and practical way to use Usenet groups (with all mail reader features: sorting, threading, an ergonomic interface ..)
Note: the above list is absolutely not exhaustive