Changing mailing list subscription policy

Chris Lyttle chris@wilddev.net
18 Sep 2002 13:13:41 -0700


On Wed, 2002-09-18 at 06:56, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've been thinking about changing the gnucash-user mailing-list 
> posting policy from "subscribers-only" to "anyone".   Anyone
> care to express an opinion?
> 
> Advantages:
> Non-subscribers will be able to post.  This means that more people
> who have questions might be able to get answers.  Thus, hopefully,
> the community of satisfied gnucash user will grow.
> 
> Disadvantages:  
> Everyone will get get mountains of spam, which, however, will be
> tagged as "SPAM", and thus should be easy to mail-filter.
> 
> This proposal applies to gnucash-users only.  The devel list would
> still require subscription (since its more discussion oriented).
> 
> Alternate proposal:  create a 'gnucash-discuss' list with closed
> subscription, and 'gnucash-help' with open posting policy.
> 
I personally am against this policy too. I believe that having a closed
list not only discourages spam but also encourages discussion on the
list. The open lists that I have seen are constantly filled with spam so
much so that it is hard sometimes to follow what is being discussed.
There is a substantial amount of spam already posted to the gnucash
lists and also a lot of viruses (klez mostly). I would not want these
being passed on to subscribers. Most of the time I dont clear the
messages every day on the list just because I know that 90% of the
messages are spam from unsubscribed people. Basically by opening the
list all you really are doing is encouraging spam propagation. I believe
that the 'subscribe to get answers' policy should perhaps be made
clearer rather than opening the list up or creating additional lists.

Chris
-- 
RedHat Certified Engineer #807302549405490.
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