A little patience, PLEASE

[Stephe Campbell]

I think I have to comment on some of the "answers" that a lot of people are
giving and getting lately. I hope there are no replies to this, just take it
as it is. Food for thought. It is directed at no one in particular.

MailScanner is a very fine application. It does just about everything that
people could want in the realm of spam, and a lot more. To do this requires
a very lengthy configuration file, and some of the concepts of the combined
options are overwhelming. I recall, way back when it wasn't so complex,
wearing out Mr. Field with questions just because I couldn't figure out some
simple concept that now seems crystal clear. I now have over 13000 email
messages retained from this list and I have deleted many more. That means
the archives have that many also. And I started late into the list, so there
were many more before I joined.

Obviously, the archives should be the first source of questioning if you
know what to search for, but to _reply_ to someone who is new, confused or
just 'without coffee' suggesting that they should look in the archives for
something is somewhat of a joke. Based on recent replies, they will now
mostly find answers to a query which directs them to 'search the archives'.
A vicous circle, if you see what I mean. And this will only get worse if
this continues. What good are archives that suggest you do exactly what you
are doing? A query could result in hundreds of hits, mostly suggesting you
search the archives. There are only so many subject line variations that we
can use for "whitelist, blacklist, rulesets, etc". What are we going to use
as a search parameter to differentiate?

I would like to plead to the knowledgable people of this list (And there are
many who have helped me before):  If you know the answer to a question,
please provide it in your reply. Make a suggestion to search the archives,
mention the MAQ that Mr. Bellavance is pouring so much effort and time into,
ask that requesters view their current email, but please, provide some
information relating to the question. Perhaps our Inboxes won't be so full
all of the time with MailScanner email.

If what I am saying is not logical, and obvious, then by all means, delete
this immediately and pay it no mind. I thank all who take the time to
monitor this list and who reply in any way they feel is proper. This is one
of the most responsive lists I have seen, and the responders are always
providing ingenious solutions to all questions. All who belong make it what
it is.

I'm really debating with myself now whether I should hit the Send
button.........

Gratefully,

Steve Campbell
campbell at cnpapers.com
Charleston Newspapers