[Community-Discuss] sock puppets (was: Re: Fwd: DEFAMATION AGAINST MR. LU HENG :-/)

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <CAO3CAMpPySJfm=z-wf39eVLkK7rcOKSno3TgtsMQ074L23i9bQ at mail.gmail.com>, 
Siyuan Miao <siyuan at misaka.io> wrote:

>Dear community,
>
>It might be off-topic but should we only allow people with company email to
>discuss here?
>
>There are always mysterious people with gmail.com email addresses
>supporting Larus / Cloud Innovation and you can't even find any other
>records when you Google their name or email address.

If asked, I would vote "no" on that proposal.

People using gmail accounts is not the problem.  The problem is *anonymous*
fake people using gmail accounts.

Nobody using any kind of "freemail" email address should be allowed to post
unless and until they have persuasively established their bona fides, i.e.
who they are, that they are real people, and that they have some CLEARLY
ARTICULATABLE basis for having an interest in matters pertaining to AFRINIC.

I would propose that -any- participant on -any- AFRINIC mailing list should
be permitted to send a private email to postmaster at afrinic.net which calls
into question the legitimacy of any other single participant on any AFRINIC
mailing list, and that postmaster at afrinic.net would then be obliged to make
appropriate inquiries regarding the reality/legitimacy of that other mailing
list participant, up to and including requiring a copy of that other participant's
passport (with photo) or other government-issued identification document, as
well as a clear and persuasive statement of the basis for that participant's
interest in AFRINIC-related matters.

In lieu of such reasonable bona fides, the participant's email address would
be blocked (by postmaster at afrinic.net) from making further list posts.

This is not heavy-handed censorship.  This is merely common sense mailing list
moderation and administration, and I, for one, am frankly appalled by the fact
that whoever is supposed to be administering the mailing lists for AFRINIC has
not already and unilaterally undertaken these obviously necessary steps to
maintain order.

I mean this has gotten totally out of hand already some time ago.  And AFRINIC's
response to this self-evident problem... or, more accurately, its lack of
response... is nothing short of blind denialism.

Will we have to wait until this mailing list is overrun with spammers selling
bogus cryptocurrency schemes before postmaster at afrinic.net takes the situation
in hand and at long last does his/her job?


Regards,
rfg