[Mailman-Users] problem sending multiple listserv commands viaemail

[Richard Damon]

On 11/1/11 4:55 PM, Mark Sapiro wrote:
> Carl Zwanzig wrote:
>>> In the case below, the first command attempted to subscribe an address
>>> which is already a member so it failed and the remaining commands were
>>> unprocessed.
>> Why is that an error?  I would expect it to ignored, just like setting a
>> property to it's current value.
>
> Because Mailman/commands/cmd_subscribe.py distinguishes it from success
> and calls it fatal. Granted, an argument could be made that it
> shouldn't be fatal and similarly that unsubscribe of a non-member
> address shouldn't be fatal either, but it isn't completely obvious
> that that should be the case.
>
One issue I see with this behavior, is that this breaks the privacy that 
mailman gives to lists. The web interface is very careful to NOT let you 
know if a given address is subscribed or not (unless the list publishes 
its subscriber list). This gives a method that you can get a message to 
one email address indicating that another, unrelated, email address is 
subscribed to the list.

-- 
Richard Damon