[Mailman-Developers] AOL's requirements for spam complaints

[Barry Warsaw]

On Fri, 2004-01-30 at 13:23, Kevin McCann wrote:

> > I'll make you a deal - you write the MTA, and I'll add support in 
> > mailman to offload the personalization.
> 
> I do not personally have the skills to do this but I wouldn't rule out 
> trying to get the funding to help make it happen. I wonder if there is 
> there enough collective know-how among Mailman developers and other 
> interested parties. Let me ask: if you don't see this as being a 
> priority now, do you see it as being such in 2 years, 3 years, five?

It's possible.  But then again who knows what the email landscape will
look like in 5 years?  I'm betting it'll look a /lot/ different than it
does today, unless it doesn't.

> More than anything I'd like to see an open source MLM that can keep up. 

When you say "keep up", remember that because of the design decisions I
outlined in my previous message, you're really talking about the MLM+MTA
combination.

> One that can meet the ever growing list of challenges as well as 
> expectations. So, looking down the road, where do others see things 
> going? Should the OS MLM status quo remain, or ought there be an effort 
> to plan for the future? Now that Mailman 3 is on the table, is a 
> built-in MTA an issue for discussion, or is it completely unrealistic? 
> Will it always be unrealistic?

For all practical purposes, it's unrealistic for Mailman 3.  Our biggest
challenge is going to be avoiding second system syndrome, and we'll have
no hope if we don't limit scope.

OTOH, I think it's important to keep this in mind as we design the
delivery subsystem.  I think we win if MM3's architecture makes it
technically possible, even if it remains insane for us to attempt it
given our current level of resources.

-Barry