git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

Hello

I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]

Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
read this.

† 1: from https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/issues/1828

—

According to https://git-scm.com/community

> There is also [Git user mailing
> list](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/git-users) on
> Google Groups which is a nice place for beginners to ask about
> anything.

I am not allowed to access it. Just as well because this is apparently
what it looks like:
https://www.mail-archive.com/git-users@googlegroups.com/

The last legitimate thread (except for an email saying “bye, this list
is too spammy”) was 2023-12-29.

-- 
Kristoffer Haugsbakk

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Thomas Guyot]

On 2024-02-03 10:02, Kristoffer Haugsbakk wrote:
> Hello
>
> I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
> was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]
>
> Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
> read this.
>

Hi,

This list is hidden in googlegroups, I'm guessing whoever owned it 
probably got his account hijacked and the list may now be controlled by 
spammers trying to push as much spam as possible to list users. You 
could try reporting to Google but I wouldn't hold high hopes on any 
outcome from that.

Maybe a better option would be to start an official git-users list, 
hosted by vger, so control is actually retained by git developers?

There doesn't appear to be a lot of user-centric lists there, but there 
are a few...

Regards,

--
Thomas

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Junio C Hamano]

"Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <code@khaugsbakk.name> writes:

> Hello
>
> I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
> was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]
>
> Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
> read this.
>
> † 1: from https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/issues/1828
>
> —
>
> According to https://git-scm.com/community
>
>> There is also [Git user mailing
>> list](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/git-users) on
>> Google Groups which is a nice place for beginners to ask about
>> anything.
>
> I am not allowed to access it. Just as well because this is apparently
> what it looks like:
> https://www.mail-archive.com/git-users@googlegroups.com/
>
> The last legitimate thread (except for an email saying “bye, this list
> is too spammy”) was 2023-12-29.

I am not a member of that list so I cannot do this, but somebody who
is a member should be able to visit

    https://groups.google.com/g/git-users/about

to find out who the owners are and how many members there are.  I
expect the UI redacts the e-mail addresses of them, but there should
be a "Contact owners and managers" link, from which you can contact
them, to let them know about the situation.

What they could do after getting notified is not clear to me,
though.  Volunteer themselves, or gather volunteer groups among the
members to moderate the traffic, if they want to run it in a useful
form, in ongoing basis might be too much, but at least they can flip
the "Anyone on the web can join group" bit a bit tighter, perhaps,
and then eject spammy group members as a one-time clean-up?

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Sat, Feb 3, 2024, at 18:33, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> to find out who the owners are and how many members there are.  I
> expect the UI redacts the e-mail addresses of them, but there should
> be a "Contact owners and managers" link, from which you can contact
> them, to let them know about the situation.

I tried that now. Turns out my Gmail account was already a member. I was
able to find the owner. But when sending the message it said something
like “couldn’t send message”.

-- 
Kristoffer Haugsbakk

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Konstantin Khomoutov]

On Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 04:02:49PM +0100, Kristoffer Haugsbakk wrote:

> I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
> was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]
> 
> Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
> read this.
[...]
> I am not allowed to access it. Just as well because this is apparently
> what it looks like:
> https://www.mail-archive.com/git-users@googlegroups.com/
> 
> The last legitimate thread (except for an email saying “bye, this list
> is too spammy”) was 2023-12-29.

(I was one of the active (answering) folks on that list.)

Unfortunately, the sole owner appears to be AWOL long ago, and honestly I do
not think I have ever seen a sole message from them since I have subscribed to
that list (back in 2013 or even earlier). The list appears to be shut down by
Google - possibly due to the fact I and possibly some other folks dutifully
marked each SPAM message as such using the web interface.

I have searched by failed to find any way to contact any kind of "support"
to have the list unblocked. Unfortunately, so far it looks like a lost cause
to me.

This is sad because the group had tractable traffic - as opposed to, say,
[git] tag on StackOverflow which has no SPAM but is literally drowned in silly
questions so that its signal-to-noise ratio is too low to get interested to
follow. Still, there's a couple of knowledgeable folks following it - namely,
Torek and VonC, so you might have luck asking there, when needed.

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Konstantin Khomoutov]

On Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 04:02:49PM +0100, Kristoffer Haugsbakk wrote:

> I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
> was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]
> 
> Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
> read this.

OK, I've posted to the Google Groups help center [2].
I do not expect this to produce any useful outcome but at least I've tried.
Please feel free to chime in on the issue to that thread.

 2. https://support.google.com/groups/thread/256971101

Re: git-users: email list has become spam-drowned

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Sun, Feb 4, 2024, at 09:43, Konstantin Khomoutov wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 04:02:49PM +0100, Kristoffer Haugsbakk wrote:
>
>> I know that this list has got nothing to do with git-scm (per se). But I
>> was recommended by Dscho to raise the issue here.[1]
>> 
>> Maybe someone who happens to be affiliated with git-users happens to
>> read this.
>
> OK, I've posted to the Google Groups help center [2].
> I do not expect this to produce any useful outcome but at least I've tried.
> Please feel free to chime in on the issue to that thread.
>
>  2. https://support.google.com/groups/thread/256971101

Thanks!

https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/pull/1829

-- 
Kristoffer Haugsbakk