mailing list pgp signatures...

[Steven W. Orr]

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On 07/12/09 09:49, quoth Aaron Konstam:
> I guess it is a matter of philosophy. I think signing mail to a list is
> a waste of time and space.
> 
> On the fedora list what difference does it make if the poster is really
> who he says he is, I could understand if the poster was selling me
> something but any ideas he or she sells are either valid and useful or
> they are not; no matter who they are.

An excellent question! I run a local mailing list here in the sleepy town of
Framingham MA. Long ago (before I was sued in Federal Court for conspiracy to
create an atmosphere of discrimination against the handicapped) I decided that
people should sign their names to their posts.  You don't have to use pgp but
you have to sign your name. People who have anonymity tend to speak
differently than if their real name is involved. In engineering circles it's
less of a problem, because people tend to be more civil than in discussions
involving personal and emotional content.

But there's overlap. What I say here may be seen by people in other circles.
If everyone I know sees that I pgp sign and then they see that there's a
message that's not signed then they'll be righteously suspicious as to whether
this really is Steven W. Orr, even if they don't have the software to vcrify.

So now you know why I sign. A better question is not why you don't sign here,
but why you don't sign at all.

[Just so I can claim to be staying on topic WRT Fedora, there are a lot of
MUAs out there, and most if not all are capable of interfacing with GnuPG.]

- --
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net
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