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