[Mailman-Developers] Query regarding plugin integration with mailman3

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Aanand Shekhar Roy writes:

 > >  > Banned word plug-in, which was also then added to the wiki page of idea
 > >  > lists)

 > > As you know, I'm not a fan of this one.
 > 
 > This feature as a plug-in is desired by many list admins. So that
 > they can maintain a decency on the list and avoid usage of certain
 > unwanted words.  I personally talked to some people about this as
 > plugin and the response was enthusiastic.

I don't think you read what I wrote.  If not, DO IT NOW.  If you did,
DO IT AGAIN.

 > For eg. 1) If I run a list that takes feedback from customers about
 > services of my company provides , then I wouldn't want
 > abuses or indecent reviews since the list is public and might hurt
 > anyone's sentiments.
 > 2) My list discusses on social causes and some anti social elements use
 > racial slurs and strong views against a particular group, I might want to
 > avoid this from the list.

I'm insulted that you think I'm such a slut that I don't understand
the motivation for this idea.  I'm pretty much decided that I will be
unlikely to be willing to mentor you, and I doubt you're doing
yourself any favors with the other potential mentors.  You have *more
than enough* time to change my mind, but your attitude so far isn't
encouraging.

A quick hint: I'm not trying to tell you that requiring politically
correct speech is stupid.  What I'm trying to tell you is that banning
the "seven words you can never say on television"[1] is neither
trivial nor sufficient.

IMO a trivial implementation will suck, a better implementation (eg,
the generic regexp-based one I described) probably will be less than
useful to many (IMHO, most) potential users, and a *good*
implementation probably cannot be done by a mailing list, period.  If
you think you know better than that, be my guest, but you'd better
address the practical problems of designing a nice *implementation*,
not insist on the desirability of the *concept*, or you will have
trouble attracting a mentor.

 > I wish to combine it with other plug-ins that I am going to propose so
 > that together they can make a "summer sized " project.

As I already told you, AFAIK that's risky.  GSoC is about *one*
"summer-sized" idea, not about "enough ideas to keep me writing
trivial programs for the whole summer".  I will ask Carol when I get
back from this business trip, but if I were you I'd start looking for
*one* project you're not quite sure you'll be able to finish by August
1 if you start *right* now.  That's about the right size IMO.  Note: I
do not speak for the Mailman project, and I definitely don't speak for
Google on this.  But the clock is ticking and you deserve an answer so
you can get to work, and that's my answer for now.  I'll get back to
you later after I've asked Carol.  If you get a better answer from
somebody else, go with that.


Footnotes: 
[1]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words