On Fri, May 22, 2009 11:11:02 AM -0400, Dave Post wrote: > On May 22, 2009, at 2:55 AM, M. Fioretti wrote: >
>> the only way to cope with this ridiculous situation would be some >> kind of autoresponder that worked invisible in the background. So >> OK to your script, as long as you only send extra messages to >> unsubscribed posters, NOT to the list OR to single subscribed >> posters, thanks. > > I'm working on one like that. That's one reason I described my > proposal as a "stopgap." A script like this is substantially more > complex, though, because it must maintain a database of messages > from unsubscribed users, compare every new message that's sent to > the list against the database, and take one of several possible > correct actions. (For example: Suppose a previously unsubscribed > user decides to subscribe and then replies to a thread s/he > initiated before subscribing.) Why? You should work on a message by message basis: if message X doesn't contain some headers send copy to poster. If not, don't. In any case, it's your time and your skills, so no problem with me. The only thing that matters is to not send duplicates to the list. >> I REFUSE to waste one second to put together convoluted mail filters > > I think "convoluted" is "in the eye of the beholder" and a function of > the method one uses to read the list. I used the wrong word, sorry. What I meant as "convoluted" would be the process as a whole of helping through this list. I should have said: - I REFUSE to waste one second to apply and continuously tweak filters to try to limit the damage coming from how OOo community support is (not) managed, especially when no other mailing list that I know of has never had such problems. - especially because there's no perfect solution, IIRC, for reason that don't even depend on the mail client a subscribed user runs. IIRC, it has to do with the fact that some people post through newsgroup interfaces, but I could be wrong Another general issue is that to make it work, somebody should write and maintain instructions on how to set filters for all possible clients. There's no way that people who use some other client will change it just to solve a problem that only this list has. > So far, it appears my script would be unwelcome, and that's ok. No, sorry, that's not exactly the case, at least for me. What is surely unwelcome is only flooding the list with duplicated messages. If you take out the "resend message to the list" part, ie ONLY send notifications to unsubscribed users, it won't hurt subscriber at all and it WILL do some good, so by all means go on. In any case, this issue has been debated to death here. If you look in the archives of the last 6/7 years you can find tenths of threads. The last one, IIRC, is this: http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=users&msgNo=169214 Personally, after trying several times to suggest how to make support through this list more productive, I've given up. No offense meant, but if people feel it's smart to waste more time to figure out how a message was sent (or what it's about) and how to deal with it, than to actually provide an answer, it's OK. It's their time. What *I* do with new us...@ooo messages is: - I look very quickly to the subjects of all messages with the [users] tag - I delete without opening them all the messages with empty subjects, and almost all the ones with very vague subjects "Help", "OpenOffice", etc.. - if any of the messages left has a subject which is clear and about something I could help about, I open those messages, read them, do my best to answer and always send each answer both to the list and the OP. that's it. If I did otherwise, it would take 10 times more for almost no extra benefit (to the OPs, not me), so sorry, it's either that or unsubscribing. Regards, Marco Fioretti -- Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how software is used *around* you: http://digifreedom.net/node/84 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
