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The "Forum" is simply a web page with a parsed display of the mailbox of "feyncalc". The mail system is set up such that all mails sent to "feyncalc" are relayed to everyone listed in a flat file maintained by hand. As such it is a primitive mailing list.
This system dates back from before spam was a real problem. Back then we prioritized making life easy for people - and for ourselves. We therefore allowed anyone to post on the list, irrespective of whether he/she was subscribing.
In recent months/years, spam has become such a big problem that it has rendered the Forum largely unusable. We have tried to reduce the problem with spam filters and by stopping posts directly via email, allowing posts only via the email gateway on the web site. This helped a bit, but not enough. The spammers just used the gateway (don't ask me how).
Now, our latest strategy is to add extra security on the gateway (demanding reading and typing a random number) and allowing direct email again - but only from list subscribers. Email addresses appearing in the From field of emails are not displayed on our web pages or used for any other purposes (than the mailing list).
We sincerely hope this will do away with spam, while keeping the list easy to use. We thus hope the Forum will continue to be a useful place for FeynCalc users to support each other and exchange opinions.
edited 2006-06-10 | 00:46:20 | article number: 8.
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