OK. Good discussion so far! By all means, keep the comments coming. Right now, though, I'd like to formalize my current thinking into two cases:
1. This mailing list traffic ought to be exempt from spam filters, and we ought not to be required to munge domains sent to this mailing list. So, I suggest we send bare domains to this list, without munging.
2. Domains sent via private email may or may not be filtered, so munging may be appropriate. It's up to the sender and the recipient, but the assumption, when policies aren't known in advance, is that one should probably munge domains sent privately.
And, I'd propose the following as a replacement to the text in http://www.surbl.org/faq.html#munge :
<H3><A NAME="munge">How can I mail or receive spam URIs for discussion? </A></H3>
<H4>For Mailing Lists</H4>
<P>When sending domains to <EM>mailing lists</EM> such as the <A HREF="http://lists.surbl.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss">SURBL Discuss list</A>, simply include the domain (or full URI, only if path information is relevant) in your message. <EM>You do not need to munge the domain when posting to these public lists.</EM></P>
<H4>For Private Email</H4>
<P>However, when sending domains via <EM>private email</EM>, it may be necessary to munge the domain to prevent the recipient's filter from hitting your email. Use a simple munging system that preserves the human readability of the domain, while preventing filters from picking up the URI. For example:</P>
<PRE>spamdomain.com-MUNGED</PRE>
<P>Note that the -MUNGED should appear at the end (or the beginning) of the URI, not in the middle, as this makes it difficult to read, and copy/paste the domain.</P>
And, the following addition (possibly condensed) to the Discuss charter:
Since these lists exist, in part, for the discussion and dissection of spam, spammy messages will often be posted. As such, participants are strongly encouraged to prevent any spam filtering of list traffic, to avoid discussions being blocked, or (worse yet) poisoning automatic learning systems.
- Ryan