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I think I might be a minority here, but I think this is an okay move. I use gchat exclusively with people within my workplace (also on gchat) and friends who al
by mmanfrin 14y ago
I think I might be a minority here, but I think this is an okay move. I use gchat exclusively with people within my workplace (also on gchat) and friends who also work at places with Google apps.
However, I've been getting a consistent barrage of requests from spam email accounts to chat; accounts with obscene names like 'sweety+69+for+free@freemail.ru' or something to the sort. The names/domains of each are different every time, so I can't simply block a domains.
I ask: if Google does not block outside requests, what could they do to stop this sort of thing?
- mtgx 14y agoI was getting the same on MSN, and I don't think that was federated.
- cbhl 14y agoMSN/Windows Live Messenger (and now Skype) do support federation with Lync Server, which is Microsoft's corporate instant messaging server. Over the years, Microsoft has tried various attempts at making MSN/WLM interoperable with AIM, XMPP, and ICQ -- albeit with limited success.
- mindcrime 14y agoGreat, do you want them to block incoming emails from any domain other than your own, as well?
- zdw 14y agoObviously not. But anti-spam measures are decades old at this point and well known. The argument is a "the technology isn't there yet and spammers are running rampant, so the obvious solution is block it, which isn't ideal", not "Google is doing this because they want a monopoly on chat, and broke the protocol to do it".
- mindcrime 14y agoPersonally, I'm not (necessarily) suggesting that "Google is doing this because they want a monopoly on chat, and broke the protocol to do it". But it seems to me that as much experience as Google engineers have dealing with spam in the email world, they could come up with something feasible on XMPP as well. Doing this strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
- cjbprime 14y ago> it seems to me that as much experience as Google engineers have dealing with spam in the email world, they could come up with something feasible on XMPP as well. But before they start on this research project, they might want to do something about the spam their users are getting now, right?
- mindcrime 14y agoBy breaking something fundamental about how XMPP chat works? Personally, I vote "no".
- enjo 14y agoI for one vote "yes". I was starting to receive lots of spam requests from within google talk. It was really annoying. Whatever they did it stopped and I'm glad for it.
- mindcrime 14y agoGreat, you lose one minor annoyance, and the rest of us deal with the fallout of a broken Internet. Sounds like a great tradeoff to me. What is it with modern times, where people are willing to sacrifice fundamental things, like applications that adhere to standard protocols, to gain some minute level of relief from something that's just "annoying"?
- 14y ago
- jonknee 14y agoNo, but a spam box for chat requests might be interesting.
- ragmondo 14y agoI have had 3 similar requests - ie obviously spam. Here's hoping a reasonable middle ground can be found.
- ciupicri 14y agoMake this filtering optional or do in on the client.
- pseut 14y ago>I ask: if Google does not block outside requests, what could they do to stop this sort of thing? Have a separate "spam gchat invite" folder that you could review periodically to look for false positives.
- mmanfrin 14y agoWhat's it based on? It's just invites.
- pseut 14y agoRight now, it could be a list of all invitations that come from non-google domains. I assume they could do better than that over time, but my point is that "decline and log for review" is an option whenever "decline alone" is. On review, you could whitelist the false positives.