Re: [OT] "REPOST"s ????

On Mon, 31 Dec 2001 13:22:51 +0100, Andreas Koch <mail_at_kochandreas.com> wrote:

>Sorry for beeing OT,
>
>but is someone else seeing all those "REPOST"s,
>about 20 today, 20 yesterday, of various older
>messages (including one of mine), with strange
>stuff in the headers (like "canceled by mozilla"):

Didn't you read it?
>> X-Reposted-By: resurrector_at_mindspring.com (Guido the Resurrector)
>> X-Comments: GtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled, more
>> X-Comments: than likely by someone other than the original poster. Please
>> X-Comments: see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
>> X-Comments: Guido the Resurrector can be contacted at
>> X-Comments: resurrector_at_mindspring.com.

>> ========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
>> Message-ID: <cancel.a0fpmq$59t$04$1_at_news.t-online.com>
>> Control: cancel <a0fpmq$59t$04$1_at_news.t-online.com>
>> Subject: cmsg cancel <a0fpmq$59t$04$1_at_news.t-online.com>
>> From: Andreas Koch <mail_at_kochandreas.com>
>> Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle.misc
>> X-No-Archive: yes
>> Lines: 2
>> NNTP-Posting-Host: wonenara.ozemail.com.au
>> X-Trace: ozemail.com.au 1009694912 203.108.164.177 (Sun, 30 Dec 2001 17:48:32 EST)
>> NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 17:48:32 EST
>> Organization: OzEmail Ltd, Australia
>> Distribution: world
>> Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 04:17:26 GMT
>> Path: news.sol.net!spool0-nwblwi.newsops.execpc.com!newsfeeds.sol.net!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!news1.optus.net.au!optus!yorrell.saard.net!duster.adelaide.on.net!newsfeed.ozemail.com.au!ozemail.com.au!not-for-mail
>>
>> This message was cancelled from within Mozilla.
>>

This means that someone sent out a control message of CANCEL for many messages. This is a legitimate way of canceling messages from a newsgroup (assuming that your newsserver honors cancels). However, this can be abused. "Guido the Resurrector", recognized a possible fraud, watched all the cancels, and promptly reposted them.

CANCELs are propogated just like every other newsmessage, its only a matter of which server supports them.

Brian Received on Mon Dec 31 2001 - 08:22:07 CST