Dealing with Fedora's mailing list

[gilpel at altern.org]

> Tim:
>>> The sign-up page [1] makes it clear the name is optional, so I can't
>>> see
>>> how an optional thing can be a vital part of your signing up.
>
> gilpel at altern.org:
>> Well, you could think that is you don't supply a name, your email
>> address
>> will be used to identify you.
>
> That page only mentions the name in relation to a list of users.  That
> being a member list for the list admin to look through.

Yup. Admins sure like to look through name lists. Great passtime!

> It doesn't give
> out any other suggestions for what it might be used for.

You later explain that there is no other way mailing lists could work, so
I'll have to take your word for it. Let's say it's not worth discusssing
this issue

>> OK. So, it's for list-owner to write to subscribers. But what would
>> change
>> if the name or username was used in the list instead of the email
>> address?
>> Couldn't he write to you just the same?
>
> The list owner could.

BTW, who owns this list?

> But nobody else could.

If I want anybody on this list to write to me, I can leave my address in
the body of a message with "chez" mistead of @ and "point" instead of dot,
etc. and make recovery by automated system next to impossible.

> Personally, I hate web forums.  They're tediously slow
> to use, convoluted, and I'd have to browse dozens of different websites
> to manage all the different forums I participate in.

I like the way forums work. I'm far from sure that the level of discussion
is the same as on mailing lists though.

> Another thing I have against private messages on a technical list is
> that some people will reply with an answer to a problem, but only to the
> poster.  Nobody else on the list gets to see the solution, or even know
> if there is one.

There's rarely much need to have private conversations branching from
mailing lists, but it might happen.

> I'm less than thrilled about one thing the gmane news group does when it
> replies back to this list:  It sets the follow up to address to its own
> news server.  This *list* is the Fedora list, nobody else should subvert
> replies to somewhere else, they should remove that header before feeding
> back to the mailing list.  And since I don't have that news server in my
> mail/news client, replies need manual fiddling with before they'll post.

I use different clients for news and email and was planning to reply
through Gmane. Since my replies, I suppose will be sent to this group, how
come my replies won't get to your email client? Why would you have to pick
them up at Gmane?

I subscribed yesterday to Gmane. I just went to their news web interface
and sent a message in test.

http://post.gmane.org/post.php?group=gmane.test

I thereafter could receive the messages in the group and read them. My own
messages are sent without a problem, but never appear on the list. I tried
every configuration I could think of, including notching "server requests
authentication" and providing the password I received for this list, but
no use: I can't post.

What's the configuration to post here from Gmane? Maybe I should try the
web interface again: for the first step of configuration, it was worth a
thousand words!

Another thing I'd like to fix until I use a Google mail address is how I
stop fedora lists to send email to my new service provider. I saw the
option:

Would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?  	 No  Yes

at

http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

but none to cancel sending. If you don't receive messages in a daily
digest, you still receive them when they appear, which I prefer.

>> You could make a rock learn.
>
> I used to work in schools (primary, secondary, and special).

I see. I must be in that last category :)

> If you can learn to jump through the hoops (dowsed in petrol and set on
> fire) that Windows makes you do to use their screwed up system, then you
> can definitely manage to learn how to use a computer system that
> actually works properly.

For whatever I do, I could manage with Windows but I dread the idea of
being put into serfdom by Microsoft. What Microsoft is doing since its
inception is saying: "If you pass on this proprietary format, you have to
pay."

The world has already been through this after the fall of the Roman
empire. I see no reason for a remake. It wasn't fun.

Thanks again for your help!