[plug] PLUG list archives are now in a private web area

[James Devenish]

Hi,

As some of you recall (and point out every few weeks), the plug at plug
archives on mail.plug.linux.org.au have exposed our e-mail addresses to
the wider Internet without obfuscation. This leaves them vulnerable to
harvesting by spammers. Prevention can be undertaken by obfuscating the
addresses, removing the addresses, or making the archives password-
protected. My preference is to obfuscate the addresses.

Although it has been within my administrative capacity to make the
archives password-protected, I have previously avoided taking action in
this regard (as have the other list/server admins). Because I had been
continually pushing for a Mailman upgrade over the last two months, I
had been anticipating that the archives would be fixed "soon" -- and I
didn't want to prevent the archives from appearing in Google search
results. Well, the upgrade to Mailman 2.1 occurred this week (after some
mild opposition). However, the archives haven't been retroactively
fixed, and there has even been an explicit objection to the idea of
doing it. Because of this, I have "bitten the bullet" and made the
archives "private". So, to access the archives, you now need to enter
your subscriber address and list password. Most of you will not know
your list password. You can obtain a "password reminder" via this web
address:

http://mail.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/options/plug

You can then access the archives at:

http://mail.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/private/plug/

Alternatively, the archives are always accessible via a LinMagAu search:

http://www.linmagau.org/archive/search.php

Old archives, from 1998 through to November 2003, are still available
at:

http://www.cantech.net.au/plug/