[SC-Help] Re: What's wrong now, Spamcop?

[Garen Erdoisa]

SpamCop Admin wrote:
> Alan Brown wrote:
>> -because I have grown accustomed to these outages (SC may not call them 
>> -that, but from a user perspective, it IS an outage).  Databases corrupt, 
>> -mail servers down, DNS problems, parser errors, you name it.  Spam Cop 
>> -has a history of technical problems.
> 
> Yes, we have plenty of problems.  And yes, we routinely don't believe
> there is a problem until we see it for ourselves.  That's because we
> access SpamCop from outside just like everybody else, and we're coming
> in from Canada, Idaho, Georgia, and California.  If we're not
> experiencing the problem, it's highly likely not a system-wide
> problem.
> 
> SpamCop is an extremely complicated living entity that needs to be
> tweaked constantly to keep up with the latest spammer tricks.  Plus,
> our database has grown to huge proportions that the system was never
> designed to handle.  We are continually upgrading our software and
> rewriting routines so that we can handle the load.  The same applies
> to the server farm that does the processing.
> 
> Plus, we're constantly under attack, so we have to use third-party
> servers to run interference for us in order to keep from getting taken
> down by a Denial of Service attack.  Sometimes those servers have
> problems, which in turn cause problems for people in one part of the
> world that aren't seen by people in other places.
> 
> The days of Julian running his one-man show out of his home are long
> gone.  It takes an entire team to manage SpamCop these days.  Servers
> fail, mistakes get made, bad stuff happens.  Such is life among
> savages.
> 
> On the bright side, we're making good progress in getting the database
> and the subroutines under control.  We're experiencing way fewer
> sudden outages.  And during all this, SpamCop still manages to process
> some 3 Million spams a day on average.  I'd say that's pretty good for
> a system with problems.
> 
> - Don D'Minion - SpamCop Admin - 

Personally, and professionally I think you guys are doing a great job.

I've experienced system outages with spamcop also, but realize that no 
system is perfect. However from what I've seen the problems are taken 
care of in a timely manner when they happen and are fairly rare from my 
perspective.

I have yet to hear of any parsing and reporting service other than 
spamcop that even comes close to doing what spamcop is doing.

Spamcop continues to have my vote of confidence.

Garen