5 ms·

Perhaps that wouldn't be true, if the WWW were more of a federation and less of a republic.

jacquesm 11y ago
That's a good point. Spammers know everything about ROI, if a platform isn't worth it spam won't be found there. The problem with that line of reasoning in relationship with the WWW is that the WWW is the platform and it is vast, federated or republic doesn't matter to the spammers, as long as there are forms and buttons to click spambots will come because the similarities between federated sites are still large enough to take advantage of them.
- zmmmmm 11y ago
  >Spammers know everything about ROI, if a platform isn't worth it spam won't be found there. The problem is that the 'I' in ROI is tiny. I occasionally put up custom web forms for sending feedback about my software. All custom fields etc. And after a period they will start generating spam, despite the fact they send only to me and some spammer had to go and create a completely bespoke spam bot to fill it out. It is clearly worth it for spammers to hit just about every open web form on the internet, as far as I can tell.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Not sure how custom your form was, but spammers do have "smart" bots that use heuristics to guess what they should fill in the fields.
- bashinator 11y ago
  If a Federated Internet (see dscr in alt thread) allows for some spam, that's OK by me. I think some spam is the price you pay for having a well trafficed protocol.
Bluestrike2 11y ago
Out of curiosity, what do you mean by that? I'm not sure I'm following your metaphor. If anything, the opposite would seem to be more likely.
- bashinator 11y ago
  The federation I imagine would have a transport mechanism like Ye Olde Usenet, but a sophisticated application layer like reddit's. If ISPs had local reddit/imgur/Facebook caches from which anyone could run a leaf node, that would be a big selling point, and work towards democratization of the Internet. Open-source the application layer. Use and contribute to standards-based protocols. That's what I mean by Federation. I don't really care if you get there by having tax-funded regional networks, or tons of private ISPs from big multinationals to mom-n-pop shops serving individual communities. We currently live in a Republic where the masses have some degree of representation through government committees and administrations, but really it's a handful of big-money private interests with the most in the game.

That's a good point. Spammers know everything about ROI, if a platform isn't worth it spam won't be found there. The problem with that line of reasoning in relationship with the WWW is that the WWW is the platform and it is vast, federated or republic doesn't matter to the spammers, as long as there are forms and buttons to click spambots will come because the similarities between federated sites are still large enough to take advantage of them.

zmmmmm 11y ago
>Spammers know everything about ROI, if a platform isn't worth it spam won't be found there. The problem is that the 'I' in ROI is tiny. I occasionally put up custom web forms for sending feedback about my software. All custom fields etc. And after a period they will start generating spam, despite the fact they send only to me and some spammer had to go and create a completely bespoke spam bot to fill it out. It is clearly worth it for spammers to hit just about every open web form on the internet, as far as I can tell.
- icebraining 11y ago
  Not sure how custom your form was, but spammers do have "smart" bots that use heuristics to guess what they should fill in the fields.
bashinator 11y ago
If a Federated Internet (see dscr in alt thread) allows for some spam, that's OK by me. I think some spam is the price you pay for having a well trafficed protocol.

Bluestrike2 11y ago

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by that? I'm not sure I'm following your metaphor. If anything, the opposite would seem to be more likely.

bashinator 11y ago
The federation I imagine would have a transport mechanism like Ye Olde Usenet, but a sophisticated application layer like reddit's. If ISPs had local reddit/imgur/Facebook caches from which anyone could run a leaf node, that would be a big selling point, and work towards democratization of the Internet. Open-source the application layer. Use and contribute to standards-based protocols. That's what I mean by Federation. I don't really care if you get there by having tax-funded regional networks, or tons of private ISPs from big multinationals to mom-n-pop shops serving individual communities. We currently live in a Republic where the masses have some degree of representation through government committees and administrations, but really it's a handful of big-money private interests with the most in the game.