[Mailman-Users] how to arrange a list with 'affiliate' members

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

>>>>> "Barnaby" == Barnaby Scott <barnabydscott at yahoo.com> writes:

    Barnaby> However you seriously underestimate the technophobia of
    Barnaby> my members!

Perhaps.  I still think if they were given a chance to work with a
system that was crafted to work for them, instead of against them,
they would learn to use the technology quickly.

    Barnaby> Not surprising really, when you learn that we are all
    Barnaby> hand-makers of furniture - so by definition have turned
    Barnaby> our backs on much that is technical.

So?  Perhaps you don't know the etymology of the term "hacker".  It's
a self-deprecating analogy of one's programming to "making furniture
by hacking at lumber with an axe."  I don't think we hackers and you
furniture makers are so different.

Still, you face the problem that by and large the software your
members can get their hands on is going to be pretty rude.

Maybe you would be better off with a weblog or wiki-style website,
which gives more control in some ways, and less in others.  Certainly
the setup cost would be higher than a mailman list, though.

    Barnaby> My task is to make sure that any one message can pass
    Barnaby> through the gate to the other list only once so that no
    Barnaby> loop could ever be established (even in the event of
    Barnaby> X-BeenThere headers being lost).

Well, anything that can strip the X-BeenThere headers can make any
other tag disappear, too.  The only foolproof method is to pass one
message in each direction, then shut down forever.

However, one thing that is almost certain to appear in every message
is a Message-ID, and unless you face an actively hostile agency, it
probably will be preserved.  So you could keep a database of message
IDs that have been seen.  If a message should arrive that doesn't have
one, add one and record that.  This is nowhere near foolproof, but in
combination with the X-BeenThere strategy should do pretty well.

-- 
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences     http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
               Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
              ask what your business can "do for" free software.