[Mailman-Developers] 1-click unsubscribe

[Dan MacNeil]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
[snip]
 >>> BTW, a look at the patch suggests it's
 >>> incomplete; I couldn't find any
 >>> templates for headers and footers, nor
 >>> documentation for how to generate the
 >>> 1-click unsubscribe button.

Somebody else writes
 >> Please, stop looking for reasons why not to do this

Stephen J. Turnbull:
 > I'm not a Mailman developer yet, and I was
 > looking for a reason for  this to be where
 > I start.  I didn't find it in the patch itself,
 > and in the meantime I found something I have
 > a strong personal interest in doing.

I've avoided this thread untill now because I'm not a mailman 
developer and I didn't want my thoughts mixed in with blovating 
by the greedy, ignorant and self absorbed. but...

Please re-consider working on "1-click" unsubscribe.

In my small experience administering lists for tiny non-profit 
and community groups, Mailman is very often used as a 
newsletter/announcement list by groups without money or tech to 
afford something fancy like constant contact.

For example, groups like:
	http://canalwaters.org
	http://lists.canalwaters.org/pipermail/canal-news/

The subscribers to these lists are generally not very computer 
friendly. Because the current unsubscribe process take 5 steps:

	1) Click
	2) enter email
	3) click submit
	4) read email
	5) reply to email

...a lot of subscribers to these lists click the "this is spam" 
button in hotmail, aol , yahoo, gmail or whatever.

Generally, they are aware that they signed up for the list, but 
don't understand that they asking for the mailman list to be 
blacklisted.

  by clicking the spam button. All they know is that they're not 
getting the thing they don't want anymore.

This I know because my group is subscribed to the feedback loops 
for hotmail & AOL. When somebody clicks a "this is spam" button, 
we get a copy. If I know the clicker well, I contact them and get 
their story.

I've read the FAQ and know that mailman is focused on discussion 
lists and for what my opinion is worth, I'm ok with that. It is 
awfully nice that your solution works for other people, but I 
don't see any obligation for you to do more than scratch your own 
itch.

However, lots of people use it for newsletters/announcements 
because it is the tool at hand. Adding things like 1-click 
unsubscribe will make mailman a better tool for these accidental 
uses and (as far as I can see) not hurt it for discussion lists.

I can't offer a lot more support than testing, spec development 
and (probably) a couple hundred bucks but I do think this a 
feature worth considering. --It definitely occupies spots  #1 to 
#5 on my wish list.


Hope this helps.