On Thu, 18 Jun 1998, Listserv Admin wrote:
>
> LSOFT, stay out of "policy enforcement" as it relates to List Owner
> management unless you think long and hard about the consequences.

LSoft is not in the business of policy enforcement. It's in the business
of providing a rich set of software-configurable options to List Owners
and Subscribers.

> I wonder, how far do you go when you start asking a vendor to make their
> software assume a responsibility

It is not the _vendor_ who is being asked to make their software assume
a responsibility. It is the list _owner_ or the list _subscriber_ who is
asking the software to assume the responsibility. It's "owner choice"
and "subscriber choice" to deploy the option. Such freedom and
flexibility!!

> ...  For one reason or another (and I know there are
> many), some List Owners would prefer to find a software/technical solution
> rather than be put in the position of having to enforce the posting policy
> of their list. Here, some List Owners will look for every opportunity to
> "enforce a policy" and feel insulted if you give them a software solution
> while others will feel very inadequate.

What's so nice about a rich set of software features is that it allows
_both_ kinds of people to operate in peaceful co-existence. Those who
would be insulted can exercise case-by-case personal hands-on control;
those who don't have that inclination can configure the software to do
the job that _they_ want done.

> ..  Maybe I'm wrong and perhaps I'm over stating
> things,

I think "mistating" is a better characterization of the issue.

> ... but I would hate to see one of the few rewards of List Ownership
> disappear as the number of software solutions to strictly "policy
> management" problems increases.

Again, "strictly policy management" problems are _always_ handled by
software (unless you're into calling the person on the phone and telling
them to "behave"!). If you don't like a subscriber's foul language, you
grab your email (software) and you send them a message. If the person
repeatedly doesn't comply with your request, you DELETE them (with your
LISTSERV software command). Exactly _how_ each list owner chooses to
exercise their particular policy management is their _choice_, thanks to
the options provided by the software. (While some of us would argue for
even more software options in LISTSERV, I think we'd also thank LSoft
for the ones we have been given.)
Peter R