[Mailman-Users] Feature Request: Selective Mass Subscription

[Larry Stone]

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008, Brad Knowles wrote:

> Michael Welch wrote:
>
> > That said, my own need calls for the ability to do just that.
>
> And I've used it myself on numerous occasions.  This is why I haven't made
> too much noise about stripping this function, or even turning it off by
> default.  I trust myself to use it, and I'm willing to trust most of my
> users on certain systems, but I don't trust anyone else.
>
> Since I want to keep the feature for myself, I can't argue too loudly to
> remove it for everyone else.

Brad, I'm glad you added that. But it raises an interesting topic of
discussion which is why is e-mail held to a different standard than
other means of communication.

I know I've mentioned this before but as a side job, I assign soccer
referees to soccer games. I need to periodically make announcements to
them about upcoming games, etc. These officials are independent
contractors - they are not employees. I use Mailman to handle mailings
because I can e-mail to them 1) with it addressed to them personally
(using Full Personaliztion) and 2) without revealing the addresses of
other referees, all without having to BCC: them.

Now have any of them given permission to be added to a mailing list? Nope,
not one of them. Actually, most people don't even know it goes through a
mailing list processor. But they have voluntarily provided their e-mail
addresses to me when requesting games. When someone applies for games, I
use mass subscribe to add them.  I think it's reasonable to conclude that
by applying, they have an expectation that I'll use the address they've
provided to send them e-mail related to the games they've requested. Just
as I'll use the phone numbers they've provided to call them and the snail
mail address potentially to send them snail mail. Nobody asks for
confirmed opt-in for snail mail mailings or phone calls. So why is e-mail
held to a different standard?

Note that this is my own server on its own address so I have no worries
about customers abusing it. But note also that the way I use Mailman for
these lists to my referees is very much outside the traditional mailing
list model. And by the way, I also do run a few "traditional" lists and
they are very much confirmed opt-in.

-- Larry Stone
   lstone19 at stonejongleux.com