~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Tue, 31 Dec 1996 ichudov@algebra.com wrote:
Send a number of unique tokens to each subscriber each day... ... A database is kept as to who was issued which tokens.
If tokens are used improperly (to post off-topic materials) the offending subscriber is denied any further tokens.
The problem of this scheme is (besides its cost) that anonymous users will not be truly anonymous.
There is a simple solution to keeping anonymous posters anonymous under this or any similar scheme. Volunteers could act as "gateways" for anonymous posts. Self-selected list members could announce that they would forward anonymous posts using one of their own tokens for the purpose. (In the alternative, the gateway volunteers could be given extra tokens solely for that purpose.) The gateway volunteers would be a firewall against flames and spam attacks, but would be a conduit for substantive anonymous posts. If gateway volunteers allowed inappropriate flames and spams through, they would have *their* tokens reduced. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~