On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, Michael C. Berch wrote:
> Attempting to hide the e-mail addresses of contributors to the
> lists would be a very difficult burden, since not only would some
> useful features of Majordomo be disabled, we would also have to
> disable features of sendmail, and most importantly, it would require
> that the entire archives (including both those hosted here and those
> maintained and indexed by third parties) be redacted to remove author
> e-mail addresses. I don't think it's worth it.
I'm surprised to hear that this server has open $ubscriber lists. It
is true that concealing the identities of those who post would be
difficult... at least impractical with most mailing list software
packages. When I make a post to a public mailing list, I accept the
risk that my return address may be harvested by a spammer. If a
spammer takes the time to $ubscribe or sift through the archives,
there is not much I can do about it.
On the other hand, most mailing lists have many more lurkers than
active participants. As a courtesy to those who choose not to make a
public post, I set up all mailing lists to conceal the $ubscriber list
as a default. The admins are at liberty to change to an open
$ubscriber list if they choose to do so.
I have seen many inquiries sent to my sever asking for all $ubscriber
data on all public lists. While I know I can't stop address
harvesting all together, I'm not going to hand them thousands of valid
email addresses on a silver plater. I would never leave all of my
lists open to such inquires as the default set up.
- murr -
