Re: Proposed change for subscriptions...
Hal Vaughan said:
> What concerns me is that Steve has some good points, but Anand is too
> busy being right to listen. (I have to admit, Steve has been rather
> strong in voicing his complaints.)
I admit I react poorly to certain behaviors. I am sorry for that and do
try to reign myself in. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't.
> In this case, there could be other solutions. For example, where do
> people get the list address? If they find it on Debian web pages, it
> would be possible to set up a form with a CGI script to allow
> submitting an e-mail without being a subscriber and the CGI script
> could include a spam filter.
I thought about that as well; hadn't gotten around to posting but glad
to see others are looking at tackling the problems brought up in
response to restricting list posting.
> It would also be possible to add to the
> mail list manager a routine that detects e-mail from non-subscribers.
> I know challenge-response tactics aren't always popular, but something
> like that could be set up so a newbie can ask a question without
> joining and crap is still filtered.
I don't think C-R is as shunned when it comes to web forms. Besides one
could do the common practice of "enter this code" with a graphic next to
it which is designed to prevent machine-reading for automatic posting.
Most web forums do this. Furthermore one could also make such CGI posts
include a boilerplate request at the end, "This request came from the
d.o help CGI, please CC the author to ensure they will recieve a copy of
your response."
> It seems to me a
> challenge-response request is a fair price to pay if one wants help but
> does not want to subscribe.
Don't we have C-R on this list now in the form of the confirmation
letter for subscription? Been years since I've gone through the process
so I might be misremembering.
--
Steve Lamb
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