Please let me know if I should post this elsewhere too.
The Mass Subscribe feature has two settings: on and off. Although Mailman was designed for users to self-install, and presumably they can trust themselves not to abuse it, the truth is that an awful lot of Mailman list owners do not have access to the full software, just the web interface.
My use of Mailman is through my ISP, but there are other users who use software installed by a business group, university, or other entity. My ISP has chosen to turn off Mass Subscribe. Only the invite feature is left.
I completely understand why they have done this and I have to concur. They have thousands of users and hundreds of mailing lists. The potential for abuse is great. They did a mass subscribe for me when I transfered my lists from another provider, but they're not going to do one or two subscribers here, three or four there, and so on.
It's a huge pain in the neck for users not to be able to add subscribers directly. For my larger lists, I prefer subscribers to do it themselves, but I have the occasional person who just can't manage it. But I also run smaller lists, including several for a nonprofit, and it's just embararssing that I can't add the board members and others who ask me to.
My request is for an intermediate step that the provider can set. Something like subscribing one name at a time (so it's too much of a pain for a spammer to put in a thousand names) or up to 10 a day, or something that will make a large provider feel more comfortable but not completely remove the feature from the users.
Thanks, Cyndi @ sonic.net