This brings up one of my pet peeves.  I maintain about 3 lists two of
which are fairly large (UNIX-WIZ and UNIX-LINUX-HIST) and both of them on
average get 2-3 SIGNOFF requests daily.  On UNIX-WIZ it got so bad I
finally put a banner on it at the bottom explaining to the slower ones how
to get off the list.  Since then I've seen no signoff requests and only
one subscription request.

Bottom line, list maintainers should learn how to use the MAILTPL files
like I did.  Saved me mucho time in the end.

M.L.

On Thu, 8 May 1997, Valentine Riddell wrote:

> Good for you, Holly!
>
> Well said!
>
> Valentine
>
> > Well, frankly, you probably won't like what I think, though I understand
> > the intention behind what you've done here.
> >
> > There are several problems, not the least of which is verifying that
> > someone is putting in a legitimate e-mail address and not just spoofing
> > either someone else's address or a completely bogus address.  Not all
> > lists are set up as "Confirm" (even though they should be).  How do you
> > keep someone from just sitting there and subscribing to a zillion lists
> > just because it's easy?  Do you verify with the sites supporting the
> > lists that you have available that they *want* you to provide this
> > service for them?  (I can tell you up front that we don't.)  And there's
> > always the down side that when it's easy for them to subscribe, they tend
> > to do it even though they're only mildly interested or maybe just want to
> > take it for a "test drive", and then the list owner(s), site admins and
> > site support people end up with the headaches of someone who wants off,
> > but doesn't remember where the site is where they "easily" subscribed",
> > may not even know the actual list name or site where the list is located,
> > whines that they're getting mail they didn't ask for (supposedly), etc.
> >
> > Since LISTSERV will send a subscription request to the right site if one
> > happens to get the wrong one, I just don't see this as a necessary thing
> > and think the potential for abuse far outweighs the positive side.  I
> > mean, really, how hard is it to type: SUB listname?  And do we really
> > want to make things so easy that nobody understands what goes on in the
> > background at all?  Why must we assume that everyone on the planet is a
> > complete dunce, incompetent and incapable of learning?  Should we not
> > make people responsible for doing some things for themselves?  (That
> > question was phrased in lawyer-speak just for you... *grin*)  In my case,
> > our business is *educating* people, not just providing them with things
> > that make life a mindless meandering.  (But then again, it seems the page
> > does exist primarily for lawyers, and maybe they need something easy...
> > *GRIN*)
> >
> > (I'm sorry... just couldn't resist a couple lawyer barbs.  Feel free to
> > come back with nerd jokes. :-)
> >
> > -Holly
> >
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Valentine Riddell                               "Once you're real,
> Orenda Healing International                    You can't become unreal
> California, New Mexico, Sweden                  again.  It lasts always."
>
> Email:  [log in to unmask]                          The Velveteen Rabbit
> WWW:  http://www.orenda-arts.org
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>