CONFIRM'ing replies only in smartlist for announcement lists
> > I just logged a wishlist bug against majordomo to support CONFIRMation
> > of replies. Hopefully that will eventually stop this sort of thing
> > from happening again/all the time :).
> Not likely. We use smartlist :-)
Damnit. This is a problem with free software, it's just so damned
efficient that new packages can spring up with a full feature set
completely replacing the packages that I am used to using.
How about a "shameless-plug:" archive control field, so that when
people install "majordomo" it says "Say, did you know that the Debian
project recommends the `smartlist' package for mailing list
functionality"? :-)
I suggest we configure smartlist on the debian announce lists so that
it will confirm the posting of replies to announcement mailing lists.
And if it can't be configured to do so, a wishlist bug should be
raised so that it can.
I also had a couple of people ask me some questions in private mail,
which I will share here because I think they are valid questions:
> What? You want regulation over education.
*Any* approach is a form of regulation. Think back to "The Wall" :).
The problem at the moment is that people either forget or don't know
that a list is not for debates. Sending out a CONFIRM email *just for
replies* allows the list owner to insert the appropriate education
material, and give people who happened to not check the Cc: header a
chance to cancel their email. It's also a lot more positive to the
new user than reprimands.
In short - I'm not suggesting we stop replies from being let in at all
(ie, a form of censorship), I am suggesting that users should have
replies bounced back with "Are you sure?" prompts.
> Why did you post to debian-devel-announce
Because I wanted people to see more positive ways to sort out these
problems in public broadcast forums.
I think that ending the thread with "hey, let's make the software
smarter so this doesn't happen again" rather than "you stupid buffoon,
this is an announce list, what the hell are you doing posting a
discussion to it?" casts a more positive light.
--
Sam Vilain, sam@vilain.net WWW: http://www.vilain.net/~sam/
GPG public key: http://www.vilain.net/~sam/gpgkey.txt
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