At 8:51 PM -0800 1/4/99, Nick Simicich wrote:
> The clueless have figured out how to get on to a mailing list that takes a
> two step process to get on.
>
> My general finding is that someone will tell me, "I've tried unsubscribing
> five times, and it has never worked."
This is why I ask for copies of the errors. It's a way of forcing
them to actually DO it, without actually having to point out I keep
logs (I'm even more anal about logging mail traffic than Nick is) and
getting in their faces. I don't HAVE to accuse them of lying, so we
can (usually) avoid most of the confrontation. Confronting users
doesn't create anything positive. I've (finally) learned that life is
too short to get too worked up about this stuff. Lots of times
allowing someone to save a little face saves a huge amount of hassle,
because most of these folks aren't trolls, they're lost, frustrated
and already embarassed.
> One person simply started
> forwarding entire digests to the list because, as she put it, in private
> e-mail, "posting big stuff always gets me kicked off of lists I'm no longer
> interested in - it is easier than figuring out how to unsubscribe."
That's why my filters trap this stuff and simply sends it back with a
polite note. Automatically -- and it doesn't get onto the list to
annoy my users, ad doesn't get to me where it annoys me. My mailbots
don't get annoyed, so we don't CARE how ofte they send that stuff to
them.
I've seen users try this up to about half a dozen times before
figuring it out. Usually if they get that far, the next message gets
caught by my naughty word filter, and the other users STILL never
know anything's going on.
It's amazing how much work some users will put into so they can be
lazy about this stuff. But that doesn't mean you have to cooperate.
--
Chuq Von Rospach (Hockey fan? <http://www.plaidworks.com/hockey/>)
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
<http://www.plaidworks.com/> + <http://www.lists.apple.com/>
Featuring Winslow Leach at the Piano!
