Re: [boost] Mailing list configuration

Subject: Re: [boost] Mailing list configuration
From: Robert Jones (robertgbjones_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-12-04 09:16:19

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Vladimir Prus <vladimir_at_[hidden]>wrote:

>
> Hi,
> it seems that the way most Boost mailing list are configure is
> fairly inconvenient, especially for newcomers. Here's a typical
> chain of events:
>
> 1. Somebody reads Boost mailing list via Gmane and wants to post.
> 2. He posts.
> 3. Gmane responds, asking the user to prove that he exists. Somewhere
> in the body of the message, Gmane suggest that user subscribes to the
> mailing list, but it's very easy to miss, and furthermore, those
> instructions
> do no work for Boost mailing lists.
> 4. User replies, and Gmane forwards the message to the list.
> 5. The list is configured to reject email messages from non-subscribers.
> When using Gmane, this results in *no notification at all*.
> 6. User posts directly, and gets bound message saying, literally:
>
>        allowed to post to this mailing list, and your message has been
>        automatically rejected.  If you think that your messages are being
>        rejected in error, contact the mailing list owner at
>        boost-docs-owner_at_[hidden] and [email address]
>
> This message does not even hint that the user has to subscribe.
> 7. User subscribes. His post in the held for moderation.
>
> I have personally was fairly confused by (6) -- where my messages disappear
> silently, and by (7) -- where the message seem to say my messages are
> specifically rejected. I suspect many users might not make it to the point
> (7)
> at all.
>
> Can we configure all mailing list to not reject posts from non-subscribes,
> instead holding them for moderation. This will also require talking to
> mailing
> list admins to enable at least some spam filtering -- presently, messages
> written in the languages I don't understand seem to freely hit boost-build
> mailing list moderation queue, and for boost-devel this will be impossible
> to handle.
>
> Comments?
>

The moderator route is always an attractive one from some perspectives, but
as always the difficulty is who has the time to moderate?

I can see the scenario you outline has some drawbacks, but to be honest I've
always found the registration/posting mechanism quite straightforward. I've
always encountered Gmane simply as an email archive, and never thought
to post to it!

I don't think there's enough of an issue here to justify the effort of
changing it.

- Rob.