That's a tough one, and can only really be considered on a case by case basis.

I'd be less likely to want to help someone with something potentially dubious if they posted as an anonymous user though. After all, most people serious about learning Perl who had discovered a resource like this would want to register.

Sometimes it pays to ask questions before answering and/or pointing out why certain practices are unacceptable.

As a regular user of a free host's forum, I have found that the majority of people bending or breaking rules (or just plain annoying people) do so through ignorance.

Who says we have to only teach Perl? ;)

In the case of that particular anonymous poster, I have to admit that many of the details rang warning bells with me. Anyone who has built up a legitimate mailing list of "thousands" of users would likely be receiving enough of an income to be using a more robust mailing service, rather than sending via Yahoo.

Very little care was taken in the composing of the question (he/she didn't bother hitting the shift key when typing "I" and the formatting is a mess. This also points to somebody wanting to earn a "fast buck".

The fact that he/she was worrying so much about bounced and deferred mail, also reduces the likelihood that the recipients asked to be mailed.

Therefore, I would be disinclined to help that particular user with that problem without further information from them. He/she is perfectly entitled to ask here, but I'm also within my rights to refuse to offer aid to whomever I choose, based on my own standards.

If posts like that are refused entry into the main pages, I would prefer that reasons were given, so that the original poster and anyone else with the same type of question would know exactly what the objection was. Hopefully, more than one person will learn something that way.