On Mon, 2002-04-08 at 08:53, Jeroen Dekkers wrote: > > The only thing that needs to be done is to set the list to accept posts > > from members only. And if they're not a member, either deny the post or > > hold it for moderation. > > Denying posts for non-members isn't the right solution IMHO.
Well, that's your opinion, which you shared with us enough times yesterday that we are all quite clear on it, thank you very much. The other half of my sentence was that it could be held for moderation, and approved by hand. As there are, perhaps, a half dozen legitimate messages on this list per *month*, that seems like a quite reasonable solution. > There could be people who write patches, want to send it to the list and > aren't subscribed. Or want to ask something without being subscribed. That is only usual for general lists. That's much less frequently the case for something that's hardly usable except as a snapshot of the current development process. And I bet if they're going to send patches, they're going to be subscribed. The only counter-example to this I can think of is the ultra-high volume lists, like linux-kernel. (Which, for example, I sent a patch to, but I read via the web.) But that's the exception that proves the rule. > > Really, at this stage of development, asking users to sign up to the > > list before posting is not that much to ask. > > I think it's too much to ask. I know people who don't write the mail > then if they find it out, I think I would do the same if the thing > doesn't bother me much. [...] Well, I don't. *Especially* since the list (for right or wrong) changes the reply-to header to be to the list. If they post to the list and aren't subscribed, then *They won't see the replies!*. Further, the plex86 code really requires a large amount of handholding to get running (for most people). Just look at the history of questions we get on here. Also, if they find it too hard to sign up for a mailing list, then, in all honesty, they're going to have a hard time dealing with this new fangled internet thing, let alone Plex86. > > Can't *someone* please change the list to members only? > > IMHO, no. In my experienced opinion, yes. When the volume of spam exceeds the volume of subscriber postings, something is seriously wrong. The easiest and most common way of dealing with this is to just flip the list into subscriber only. If you're truly worried about losing non-subscriber posts, then volunteer to be a moderator that approves or denies the posts sent from non-members. I already do this for several low-volume lists, and I'll happily step up and offer to do the job for this one. Really, this is just getting ridiculous. Ray
