Barbara Duprey wrote:
Harold Fuchs wrote:
2009/11/1 Barbara Duprey <[email protected]>
Just a thought -- there is a link that can be provided into the
archives
for a particular thread. What if either (in order of preference) the
list
manager, a moderator, or anybody on the list who knows how, sent a
message
to the unsubscribed poster containing that link? The poster would
not have
to subscribe (thereby getting what could potentially be a dismaying
number
of messages -- and often leading to a "please unsubscribe me"
message). Yet
they'd be able to follow the discussion, wouldn't they, to see any
responses
on the thread?
I *think* that the main source of the problem is that the moderator's
e-mail
program and/or his/her installation of the list management software is
mis-configured.
The list management software is called "ezmlm" ("Easy Mail List
Management"
or some such). The ezmlm manual is on-line at
<http://www.ezmlm.org/manual/>.
Section 1.6 discusses replying to a message from an ezmlm mailing
list (see
http://www.ezmlm.org/manual/Replying.html#Replying>). It suggests quite
clearly that a "Reply all" should go to the list *and* to the
unsubscribed
originator of the message.
Perhaps the moderator has overriden the default "reply to" address in
the
ezmlm config file(s) and/or in his/her own e-mail program ????
In the immortal words of Sandy Powell: can you hear me, mother?
The Reply-To header is forced to the list only. Whether that could be
changed or not, it's been discussed here many times and nothing has
ever happened -- I don't think mother hears us! I'm also not sure how
good we'd be at remembering to use Reply All, or whether it would
carry throughout the discussion. If somebody just used Reply, and then
somebody deeper in the thread actually answers the OP's question, we'd
be back where we are now, right? I almost never use Reply All myself,
I'm pretty sure I'd sometimes forget! From what Paul (a? the?
moderator for this list) has said on-list, the moderators really don't
have any say in what the ezmlm setup is, and I think the approval
process is outside of the normal e-mail client use. The responsible
person or group, and the list owner, remain mysterious (at least as
far as I've seen here). One of the reasons I'm exploring the archive
link is that it could be accomplished as part of the list management
protocol, or by the moderator, or by people like us -- depending on
who we could get to listen.
I agree that it's not 100% but if mother would listen it might be a
simpler solution to implement. Any "reply" or "reply all" directly to
the unsubscribed poster ("UP") at least gets to that poster. I agree
that a "reply" deeper in the thread might get lost as far as the UP is
concerned but perhaps that's less important. The difficulty, if it is
one, is that a simple "reply" to the UP does not get noticed by the list
so it might look as if the question hasn't been answered. This might
lead to multiple responses but IMHO that's erring on the right side.
It sounds to me (please correct this if I'm wrong) that implementing the
"active link" requires work in the ezmlm (list management) area which
would have to be done by the same moderator as the one who would need to
change the "reply to" configuration. Or have you got a cunning plan that
implements the "active link" without touching the moderator's system?
--
Harold Fuchs
London, England
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