On Sunday 23 May 2010, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: > On Sonntag 23 Mai 2010, Peter Humphrey wrote: > > On Sunday 23 May 2010 12:21:39 Etaoin Shrdlu wrote: > > > It would be great if mailing list software could be configured so > > > that only users who demonstrate they know how to unsubscribe could > > > subscribe in the first place. Example: > > > > > > - user subscribes > > > - mailing list replies: "please unsubscribe and subscribe again" > > > - if user fails to do so within a configurable amount of time, > > > forcibly unsubscribe him > > > - if user succeeds, leave him subscribed after the second > > > subscription. > > > > And how often would you impose refresher tests? Anyone's memory is > > fallible, as no-one knows better than I do. > > > > Better for this purpose would be to require all mailing lists to operate > > in the same way, but that's equally unlikely, as well as undesirable. > > > > > Just saying... > > > > What does that mean? I had a mother-in-law once who often added it to a > > critical remark, and I never understood what she meant by it either. > > and for the uncurable stupid, unsubscribe instructions are in the header of > every mail send:
I wouldn't call people who don't know how to unsubscribe stupid, as they most certainly aren't. But for sure, they should know how to find that information if needed, and all the "HELP UNSUBSCRIBE" kind of messages clearly show that they don't. And even your posting of the instructions now, cannot help future subscribers who won't read your email. That's why it would probably be better (in my opinion) to append the instructions to every message. But this is a very old debate and was discussed to death many times in the past, so I'm certainly not going to further it (and I hope it won't start another endless thread). (this is not directed to you Volker) If somebody wants to flame or continue to criticize, feel free to do that, I won't reply anyway as I have nothing more to add to what I've said already.
