[Mailman-Users] Feature Request: Selective Mass Subscription

[Cyndi Norwitz]

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