On 21 Sep 2007 at 21:28, Diabolic Preacher wrote:
> On 9/21/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > On Friday 21 September 2007 09:26:47 Michael Adams wrote:
> > > On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:44:59 -0700
>
> if the email client problem is taken aside, what are the reasons for
> either allowing or disallowing non-subscribed posts.
>
> although everyone has put forward their points supporting either case.
> i would choose to go with a subscribers-only list..and i'll try n
> explain
Thinking off the top of my head, as I write, maybe the issue needn't be
a completely black or white, "subscribed" or "unsubscribed" one. A
couple of ideas:
Suppose mail from unsubscribed users (only) is put through some sort of
filtering. This would look for key words/phrases ("does it run on
vista", springs to mind for example) and send what seems an appropriate
reply from an FAQ, along with a note giving the benefits of subscribing
to the list. The latter would include in particular avoidance of the
filter - so if it /has/ answered the question, all's well and good (and
list time is saved); if it /hasn't/, then there's a chance to either
rephrase the request (without subscribing, in which case the process
repeats), or of subscribing, in which case it will be dealt with as
now.
Alternatively, perhaps requests from non-subscribed people could be
dealt with as implicit subscription requests - they send the question,
receive a note explaining what's happening and asking if they wish to
subscribe: iff they agree, they are then subscribed and the question is
forwarded to the list. But a pre-check of an FAQ would /still/ remove
the motonous regularity of the 'vista questions' :-)
As I said, this is straight off the top of the head, so maybe it's a
non-starter for some reason. Thoughts?
--
various incoming sites blocked because of spam; see
http://www.scottsonline.org.uk for a list and openpgp crypto key
(key fingerprint 2ACC 9F21 5103 F68C 7C32 9EA8 C949 81E1 31C9 1364)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike Scott, Harlow, Essex, England
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