[Mailman-Users] Preventing people from leaving

[Ken Manheimer]

Martin Skjoldebrand <Martin.Skjoldebrand at forumsyd.se> wrote:

> JohnJ at ActiveState.com writes:

[> > I'm inferring that Martin Skjoldebrand originally wrote:]

> >> We are going to implement a few lists through Mailman.  Our info
> >> dept wants a list of press release people who are not admitted to
> >> leave the list by using the lists web site. (ONLY through noticying
> >> the list admin).

> >Personally, I would hope that this is never implemented.  I would not
> >want some spamming company to adopt this software because of a setup
> >option that allowed "unleavable lists", in any way, shape or form.
> >Yes, even if -you- required the user to sign up, read a AUP and agree
> >to it; other follow-on companies/scams may not.

> I agree. This is what the PR people want tho. It WILL be
> possible to leave, I think they just want to be informed
> when an unsubscribe is requested so that the can contact
> them before they leave (I hope). It's a list of journalists
> that cover our area.

The thing to do then is to implement something that provides
notification of unsubscriptions **but does not impede the
unsubscriptions in any way**.

(It's not possible to prevent abuse of the software to lock in
subscriptions, but i can think of no reason for a successful mlm to
package such functionality.  I suspect that any whic does should be
shunned!

My reasoning here is obnoxiously arrogant, and may be unjustifiable.
Nonetheless:

People experienced enough to implement the abuse themselves should be
experienced enough to figure out why they shouldn't do so, and come up
with better alternatives, and people *lacking* the experience (and/or wit)
to figure those things out shouldn't be helped to make the mistake...)

Ken Manheimer
klm at zope.com


-- 
Ken
klm at zope.com