Re: [list-managers] The daily digest for list-managers. V12 #191

["Steven Holton" <sholton @ nortelnetworks . com>]

Berg Oswell <berg@eskimo.com> wrote:

> Is it any of your business, as list owner, what people send 
> off-list?  Even if it's in response to list traffic?  Who 
> appointed you the censor of all that someone else sends?

Lot's of very interesting opinions here, across the spectrum
and all have merit.

The end-to-end principle[1] would seem to indicate that mail sent
to your list should pass through unhindered, and if the recipient
chooses to reply to the sender, that's between the recipient and
the sender.

Of course, if you (as the list manager) are acting as a moderator,
editor, or other active role (I guess so, if you're asking here 
before taking action) then not only should you be allowed to 
censor content to further the aims of the list, your subscribers
probably expect you to do so.

Would it be possible (and appropriate) to switch out-of-office
subscribers to "digest" mode? That should prevent _anyone_ from
receiving an out-of-office reply (except perhaps you, or the list 
if reply-to is set such). Plus, you haven't censored or uns+bscr+bed
anyone. It still leaves you with the problem of finding-out who
is auto-responding, but once you know , this may give you 
a least-impact way of eliminating the problem.

[1] Not that there's much end-to-end left of the Internet today...

-- 
Steve Holton