Reason for current policy, was Re: [linux-audio-dev] Should the list be members-only?

[Paul Winkler]

One more bit of information... I'm not sure if everybody knows that
there was a good reason the list policy was set to open.

*please follow up to the other thread*, this is just an aside...

>From http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/lad/subscribelad.php3:

  The list is open.
  You can post messages even if you are not subscribed. This is 
  necessary to make cross-postings and participation from people on the 
  ALSA and linux-kernel lists possible. It also means we have to live with 
  the occasional spam.
  It can be helpful to subscribe and lurk for a while before you join 
  the discussion to familiarize yourself with the the habits of the tribe :)

So, changing policy would mean the list-admin volunteer(s) would get
bombarded with approval requests every time there's a thread crossposted.
This would also really slow down those discussions.

Mailman does provide a tantalizing option: you can require the list address
be in the explicit destinations (to or cc), which we already do; 
and then provide addresses which are considered equivalent to the list 
address as acceptable destinations.

However, I assume this option does not override the non-member policy. 
It would be very odd if it did! But would be handy for our purposes - 
not much (if any) spam has both linux-audio-dev and linux-kernel or 
alsa-devel in the explicit recipients.

-- 

Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
Look! Up in the sky! It's SQUEEGIE GUY PSEUDO SOUP!
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