From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sat Mar 5 18:32:23 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1990BA0AB7C for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2016 18:32:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu) Received: from cosmo.uchicago.edu (cosmo.uchicago.edu [128.135.70.90]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF18D999 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2016 18:32:22 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu) Received: by cosmo.uchicago.edu (Postfix, from userid 48) id 3BD86CB8CC4; Sat, 5 Mar 2016 12:11:19 -0600 (CST) Received: from 69.209.230.76 (SquirrelMail authenticated user valeri) by cosmo.uchicago.edu with HTTP; Sat, 5 Mar 2016 12:11:19 -0600 (CST) Message-ID: <51065.69.209.230.76.1457201479.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu> In-Reply-To: <20160305175050.d20adc148db2caa0f90e8c3a@sohara.org> References: <87egbqfpqc.fsf@mitoraj.siccegge.de> <20160304134618.16fc67d1@archlinux.localdomain> <20160304135317.662d1258@archlinux.localdomain> <56DA3149.7070808@gmail.com> <20160305180247.597ddf10.freebsd@edvax.de> <20160305175050.d20adc148db2caa0f90e8c3a@sohara.org> Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2016 12:11:19 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re: Span in the lists From: "Valeri Galtsev" To: "Steve O'Hara-Smith" Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, "Polytropon" Reply-To: galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.8-5.el5.centos.7 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2016 18:32:23 -0000 On Sat, March 5, 2016 11:50 am, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote: > On Sat, 5 Mar 2016 18:02:47 +0100 > Polytropon wrote: > >> Are there maybe other situations where "no registration required" is >> an important feature to have? > > Pure and simple ease of use, there are a lot of FreeBSD mailing > lists, some of them very specialised. > > If I have a question or report appropriate to one of those then > with the current conventions I can pop a mail to the list, expect to see > the replies (reply to all is the convention) and not be bothered with > anything else on the list but the one thing that drove me to seek contact > with specialists. > > Going the other waY I'd have to susbcribe to the list, do > the validation dance, send my question, see answers and all the other list > traffic and eventually I'd have to unsubscribe. It's not a lot of work - > but it's a big multiplier on sending a single email - especially if the > reply is "try the guys in $otherlist". > > The current system is maximally convenient for the person who wants > one-off access to experts. To me that seems to be the correct model for > support mailing lists. > > Spam is the risk - and has been noted the incidence is low. I > presume there are some very good spam filters on the list. > Yes, indeed, this all makes sense. Originally my opinion was the same as that of OP of this thread (need to post: subscribe). But then I changed my opinion, basically, deciding the FreeBSD mail list owners have their reasons. This what you describe makes these reasons clear and transparent. I have subscribed to several specialized FreeBSD mail lists, and in addition to useful instructive posts and answers, I also receive "bug reports" and similar "as assignee to the bug" which some of mail lists are - assignees to bugs. So, I know exactly what you mean when you are saying subscribers may get something they actually don't want to receive. (I personally don't mind receiving that, so I keep being subscribed, and learn from some, and just ignore other posts). Anyway, I decided to chime in as an outsider who originally had the same opinion as OP (original poster) of this thread, but then changed my opinion, and decided: FreeBSD mail list owners _do_ know better, so I better live with what they have. Valeri ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++