Dear Valued Potential Contributor,

I am sorry to have to ask if you’re a spambot. Believe me, I hate having to ask.

Sadly, a Google Group that does not require confirmation for signups will soon be overridden by spam. Read this excellent rant by John Resig on the subject.

You haven’t been singled out: EVERYONE who asks to join the group gets asked this question UNLESS they put a relevant note in the “Why do you want to join?” box.

In particular, I’m not asking because your email address looks funny, or anything like that. EVERYONE gets asked. Spammers email addresses are in general indistinguishable from real addresses.

Perhaps in future a mailing list system with better spam filters will crop up, but until then we’re stuck making the best of Google Groups.

Thanks for answering the question of whether you are a computer program with humour :)

best,
Dan Lucraft