[Mailman-Developers] Re: [BUG] Users are created as moderated in CVS mailman

[Chuq Von Rospach]

On 3/11/02 10:24 PM, "Barry A. Warsaw" <barry@wooz.org> wrote:

> Their postings will be held for approval, correct.
> 
>   BG> What exactly do we gain from this?

A couple of things.

First, it stops the "subscribe and spam", which is a growing problem. It's
not an issue with the big spammers (except on major list sites like
yahoogroups, where it IS increasingly a hassle), but the small guys,
especially if you have a list that their products target.

Second, you stop the rolling troll fights. You get a jerk on the list. You
kick the jerk off the list. The jerk decides to make your life miserable, so
you start this rolling fight over trying to keep one step ahead of his
latest free account that he subscribes with to continue his troll.

Third, some admins want new users to watch the list for a while before
posting, or at the least, prevent new users from doing stupid things. So
this gives them a chance to enforce that request. For heavily focussed lists
that are serious about signal instead of noise, it can be useful.

I also know some admins that want to see two or three postings from a person
before they "trust" them with open access to the list. ON some lists, I can
understand that desire, too.

Basically, it gives admins another tool to try to cut the noise. Some admins
really want this. Some will consider it an abomination. It's all in your
admin style. I'd want it for the first two. I might use the last two
tactically on SOME lists, or in some circumstances, but not generally.


-- 
Chuq Von Rospach, Architech
chuqui@plaidworks.com -- http://www.chuqui.com/

He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier.