[plug] unsubscibe (newbie's perspective)

[Mike]

mmm, as someone already mentioned, people will email the group
even though the unsub suffix is present on messages, that and the
extra b/w required suggest this is not the best solution or at
least address the idea it could be handled another way,

Are people forgetting something here ?

a.	Computers can be programmed to perform various tasks,
	easy to program it to handle unsub requests from the list
	members as well as via an admin list. Simple logic could
	handle the very requests (and several exceptions) that
	have recently occured.

b.	Wouldn't it be a nice demonstration of the powers of linux
	and cooperative intent of the group (vis a vis linux came
	together via open source cooperation), if the list software
	were expertly programmed to minimise non-effective list
	traffic - such as unsub requests, spam, bounces etc etc
	Note: Its occured to me that to handle erroneous traps
	on unsub requests, the list s/w email the person who
	made the request informing them of being unsubbed, that
	way if some poor plebe stumbles upon an unsub request whilst
	making a bonafide list message then they get alerted.

c.	Linux is slowly getting some recognition and we need all the
	newbies we can get and then some more, the last thing you
	want to do is restrict in any way acess to learning and
	discussing with others linux and its issues.
	IMNSHO: REstricting subscriptions is like restricting education
	(which should be totally free - and I'm a capitalist).

Note:	To address c above we need a really broad based FAQ, from
	messages contributed by this local group - vectoring to
	a general fax is just plain lazy and won't be as dynamic
	illustrating how people can work together - part of the
	evolution of linux <hrrmm>
	Here's a thought: For newbies, the list s/w append a note
	re where the FAQ is (as well as unsub info) for a rolling
	average number of messages. Say if person 'x' only emails
	once a month then they get a suffix note re FAQ and Unsub,
	if people send to the list more then 3 times a month or
	so then they get no suffix FAQ or unsub info.
	In fact, the list s/w should also send a FAQ/Unsub to anyone
	once each 6 months etc etc This is not mutally exclusive
	with list s/w handling unsubs sent to list,

Its amazing that people who have programming experience tend to be
less aware of their impact on others and can become so arrogant to assume
those without programming experience can not come up with solutions to
computer related problems. The traffic generated through a pair of
unsub requests demonstrates some of this,

Hasn't perl based string processing at least have the power to
handle unsub messages sent to the list - f...... easy if you ask
me and I ain't no perl programmer. F... I could do it in assembler
with a bleedin Z80, it ain't that hard - is it ?

<sigh>

Mike
 




At 11:21 PM 25/3/2001 +0800, you wrote:
>When I tried to move my plug mailings to a different email address,
>the information contained in the original plug sign up mailing was out
>of date.  Emails trying to subscribe and unsubscribe bounced as user
>unknown.  If the people sending to the list encountered these
>problems, I don't blame them for mailing here.  At the same time, I
>couldn't get accurate info from the plug website as it was down, and
>the linux.org.au site had outdated information as well.  Eventually I
>was able to unsubscribe and resubscribe to a new email address (notice
>I'm using start.com.au not netscape.com now) but it was way more of a
>pain than it should have been, and took a significant amount of my
>time.  I think it would be a VERY good idea to have a one sentence "to
>be removed from" line with the CURRENT plug list remove/subscribe
>email included in that single sentence.
>
>Ari
>
>
>Original message from: Mike <erazmus at wantree.com.au>
>>
>>At 11:25 PM 25/3/2001 +0800, you wrote:
>>>  OK, now all you Linux evangelists are going to rave on about
>attracting
>>>newbies to further the Great Cause. But wouldnt your energies be
>better
>>>directed if we weed out the hopeless cases first?
>>
>>Its very sad you must label people this way because they showed
>laziness
>>at the time of sending an unsub message to the list - some people
>>still don't know the difference between the mail list and the
>'instruction'
>>list, in fact, these days shouldn't the software be smart enough to
>>weed out emails meant for the admin address - why is it so hard
>>for people to come up with relational s/w or even deadpan simple s/w
>>to handle unsub requests with allowances for most spelling variations
>?
>>
>>This does not make them lazy or hopeless, unless you want to label
>>yourself an arrogant elitist pedant !
>>
>>*grin*
>>
>>Mike
>>
>>
>>.
>>
>
>
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