[Mailman-Users] Cookies

[claw at kanga.nu]

On Mon, 29 Nov 1999 09:08:48 -0500 
John A Martin <jam at jamux.com> wrote:

>>>>>> "claw2" == claw "Re: [Mailman-Users] Cookies " Sun, 28 Nov
>>>>>> 1999 22:11:34 -0800
claw2> Never install the various stanzas in your web server configs.

> Er.. Throw away the baby with the bath water?

Yup.  They two are married at this point.

> Unless I miss something cookies seem not to be involved for the
> ordinary subscriber, right?

No.  Cookies are not involved for just subscribing to a list, but
they are involved for browsing the archives, changing subscription
configurations (NOMAIL, digest, etc) and such.

If your users will never wish to change their subscriptions from
their default values, and you use an external archiver, yes, your
users should be able to remain cookie free.

> A list owner/admin can refuse cookies and operate by giving his
> password at every turn.  

My only experience here is that this didn't work (the changes made
without cookies weren't made).  Try it and see.  It may have changed 
sice I last tested this a a year ago.

> It also appears that the cookies that are offered expire quickly,
> 3 hours IIRC.

Yup.  

> It would be nice of course to tidy things up to make it better for
> the cookie hating site.  It would seem a pity for mailman to be
> fully dependent upon something as controversial as cookies.

I would prefer to argue that a life (or a project development) spent
in avoidance of controversy is wasted.  Cookies are not inherently
evil.  They can be abused and used for unpleasant purposes but that
is not a fault of the technique itself but of its application.  

-- 
J C Lawrence                                 Home: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                              Other: coder at kanga.nu
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--