[savannah-help-public] [sr #109165] Why aren't the mbox files protected and public available for everyone?

[Karl Berry]

Follow-up Comment #2, sr #109165 (project administration):

i'd just like to add that savannah lists are the same as all other gnu/fsf
lists in this regard. those with public archives have mbox files available
through the ftp you found. that's how lists.gnu.org lists have always been set
up, with the basic theory that public archives are a good thing for technical
lists, for the reasons alfred wrote.

nonetheless, it's possible to mark archives as private (in the mailman
interface, after a list is created); that will make both the html form and the
mbox form inaccessible except to list members.  (which is not guaranteed
protection, because spammers know how to subscribe to lists.)


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Re: [savannah-help-public] [sr #109165] Why aren't the mbox files protected and public available for everyone?

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   However my own opinion is that all of the lists may be subscribed
   to by anyone. Many do. Many archive sites subscribe to the mailing
   lists and archive the messages. Full archives of all of the
   messages are therefore easily available elsewhere.  The archive is
   not of subscribers.  The archive is only of messages from people
   who have posted to them.  Anyone who posts messages to public
   mailing lists must expect that the public will read those messages!

Indeed, and _anyone_ can subscribe to a list and our (the GNU
projects) policy has also been not to require users to subscribe to
lists to be able to post a bug report, or a question (though things
might go through a moderation queue).  

Most of the lists also go trough a NNTP <-> SMTP gateway (like GMANE).

Not providing the archives is a disservice to fellow hackers.  Having
list archives available easily it makes it trivial to import a mailing
list and browse through the old traffic for previous bug reports,
questions, and what not.

[savannah-help-public] [sr #109165] Why aren't the mbox files protected and public available for everyone?

[Bob Proulx]

Update of sr #109165 (project administration):

 Open/Closed:Open => Closed 

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Follow-up Comment #1:

The shortest answer is that those decisions were made years ago and no one
from that era is currently active with the mailing lists.  Additionally the
Savannah folks (the ones you submitted this ticket to) are not the
administrators for the mailing list archive.  Only the FSF admins have access
to the mailing list archive. So for most details such as this you would need
to ask FSF at < sysadmin AT gnu.org > for information and changes to them. For
us Savannah Hackers we just live with what the FSF has provided to us.

However my own opinion is that all of the lists may be subscribed to by
anyone. Many do. Many archive sites subscribe to the mailing lists and archive
the messages. Full archives of all of the messages are therefore easily
available elsewhere.  The archive is not of subscribers.  The archive is only
of messages from people who have posted to them.  Anyone who posts messages to
public mailing lists must expect that the public will read those messages!
Trying to hide those addresses seems a silly useless point to me. Most
messages posted will have been seen and read and archived by potentially
thousands of readers and email archives.

Because this is not a bug for simple accounting I am closing the ticket.  But
feel free to post additional comments here.  We will see them.  Or if you wish
a more natural discussion flow please write to < savannah-help-public AT
gnu.org > for a discussion list.


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[savannah-help-public] [sr #109165] Why aren't the mbox files protected and public available for everyone?

[Simon Sobisch]

URL:
  

 Summary: Why aren't the mbox files protected and public
available for everyone?
 Project: Savannah Administration
Submitted by: mensch
Submitted on: Tue 11 Oct 2016 09:45:26 PM CEST
Category: Project mailing lists
Priority: 5 - Normal
Severity: 3 - Normal
  Status: None
 Assigned to: None
Originator Email: 
Operating System: None
 Open/Closed: Open
 Discussion Lock: Any

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Details:

I ask because we consider moving them from SF to savannah. SF makes them only
available directly to the project admins (ftp with login, only granted for the
specific project admins), savannah places them at a public ftp server.

The main reason I ask is because spam protection (If I'd like to SPAM I'd just
get all mbox files and export the sender/recipient from them).

Additional there is the option to "spy" on questions/answers from specific
mail addresses.

I don't want to expose all the mailing addresses from the archive (the web
interface "protects" the mails by removing everything after an @ in the mail
body and by doing similar on the sender address).




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