Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 01:08:03 -0700
From: Carl Page <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Thanks for informing us of the concern. We are careful to always subscribe
to lists under the name listsaver-of-<listname>@findmail.com which is the
best way to contact the list manager in advance to request permission. It
is an intentionally obvious name. There is litte more we can do without
being accused of spamming the list or the list managers.
Oh no no no...you have it backwards. You must ask for permission before
archiving. Not subscribe and remove the list later if the list owner
notices. Yes, I get cc'd on subscribe requests. But if I was running a
very large list, I probably wouldn't bother. It is not okay to do
something and then assume it's alright because you don't get feedback.
It is not spam to write a personalized note saying, "we would like to
archive your mailing list for you. Here are the details. Please say yes
or no (lack of an answer always means no)." It is spam if you send the
same note to 100's of listowners indiscriminately. If you can take the
time and effort to subscribe to each list indivudually, you can take the
time and effort to write each listowner a note (yes, a form letter for most
of it is okay). If you're using special software to mass subscribe to many
groups, this is a bad thing in and of itself and should stop.
To avoid lists being archived, the best bet is to use the industry standard
tag all responsible archive sites obey, X-NO-ARCHIVE: Yes. We search for
this in the info file, and on each list messages themselves, as well as for
words like "private" in the info file.
People do not expect email to be archived unless it is on a public list and
the listowner announces it as a service. No one should have to add in an
extra header to all their email (often done by hand) or even all their
mailing list traffic. It is your job, as a self-described "resonsible
archive site," to acquire permission in advance.
These days we aren't very interested in providing archives of lists we
don't host for free since we now have free list hosting which makes a lot
more sense to us.
Glad to hear it.
Please be sure to let me know what list it is you don't want archived- I'll
mark it banned so we don't subscribe again. Mail to postmaster is for mail
related problems. Mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] gets
quicker service.
No. I will not go out of my way to tell you not to do something you should
not have done in the first place. You are far from the only place who
archives mailing list traffic. As a listowner, am I responsible for
hunting them all down? If I miss one, does that mean I gave permission for
archiving?
I run 3 lists. To make it easier for you, just ban *@lists.best.com.
Unless of course someone specifically gives you permission.
I'm really surprised at your attitude. I used to defend you guys. My
memory of findmail is that, a couple of years ago, your company wrote me
and asked if they could archive my list. I said no and that was the end of
it. That is the way it should be and to change it is indefensible. I do
appreciate your posting here though...even knowing you would likely get
flamed for it.
Cyndi
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.best.com/~cnorman
_________________________ Owner of the Immune Lists http://www.best.com/~immune
