Good for you, Holly! Well said! Valentine On May 8, 1997, at 09:44 AM, LISTSERV Administr wrote: > >Our new listTool - Mailing List Subscription > >Manager at http://www.lawguru.com/subscribe/listtool.html allows you to > >easily > >"subscribe", "unsubscribe" and send commands to over 450+ mailing lists > >(including this mailing list) in categories such as computers, news, > >business, > >law, humor, sports, art, literature, music and more. You no longer have to > >remember what command to send to which obscure email address to > >"subscribe" to > >or "unsubscribe" from a mailing list. After selecting the category, just > >enter > >your email address, select from the over 450+ different mailing lists > >available, > >pick the command, press the "Send" button and our server will do the rest. > >Best > >of all it is free. Let me know what you think or if you want to suggest a > new > >mailing list to add. > > 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~