RE: closing mailing lists (was: spamcop)
On Sunday, September 24, 2006 8:34 AM -0500, Stephen wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 23, 2006 at 01:22:30PM -0500 or thereabouts, Seth
> Goodman wrote:
>
> > You are right in saying there is no apparent way to subscribe
> > without getting all the list traffic. Without this feature, it
> > is impractical to require that posters first confirm their email
> > address.
>
> Why ? I don't know of any e-mail list, (other than this one) that
> doesn't require people to first confirm their address -- It's
> pretty much a standard practise.
Andrei pointed in
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2006/09/msg01837.html that for an
occasional poster to a high volume list, it is a burden to require them
to receive all list traffic. It's not a problem when the list allows
subscribing for posting only (i.e. majordomo 'nomail', Mailman 'set
delivery off'). Debian lists don't provide this feature. It would also
be helpful to people who go on vacation, or get very busy, and want to
temporarily stop high-volume mail sources.
You're quite right in pointing out that most mailing lists require
registration before posting in order to control spam. That doesn't mean
they require the user to receive all list traffic. I quite agree with
Hans in http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2006/09/msg02163.html that
anyone who can't successfully respond to a confirmation email probably
won't be able to deal with Debian.
I think the following would make Debian lists better for everyone:
1) allow users to subscribe for posting only,
2) require users to subscribe before posting and
3) allow users to temporarily turn off list mail
--
Seth Goodman
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