Re: [tlug] Email address munging in the TLUG archives

[Edward Middleton <edward@example.com>]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Edward Middleton writes:
>
>  > > Note that there are plenty of archiving services (eg, Gmane) with less
>  > > than robust ethics about following list policy.  I'm pretty sure that
>  > > Gmane munges, but others many not.
>
>  > I was under the impression that gmane was managed by proxyies of the
>  > group and the choice on whether to mung was up to them.
>
> Gmane claims to consult with the managers of the lists it proxies, but
> in practice it makes no effort to check whether people claiming to
> represent the list have the authority to do so.
>   

This who line of argument that everyone else does a poor job so we
should follow suit is completely wrong.  This is TLUG.

>  > Good point, can we have the sender address removed from emails posted to
>  > the list?
>
> If you don't want your address to appear in the list traffic, don't
> use it!
>
> I think it's ridiculous to ask the group to try to protect you from
> the consequences of your posts.

I entirely agree with this, but I do think it is reasonable for people
to try and protect your email address, and there are clearly others on
this list who agree, hence the discussion of munging email addresses.

> It's reasonable to make an exception for the period when the archives were closed, but we all know how to
> sign up for a hotmail address we're never actually going to read,
> don't we?
>   

Your proposed solution of posting from a hotmail address is a very bad
idea, because it makes it impossible for anyone including the list
master to tell who is the actual poster.  Which
Stephen.J.Turnbull_1@example.com, Stephen.J.Turnbull_2@example.com ..
Stephen.J.Turnbull_n@example.com is the real Stephen Turnbull

Not showing the email address to all list members doesn't protect you
from the consequences of your posts, the list master has the list of all
email addresses.  If something inappropriate is posted to the list there
is clearly a method of recourse, i.e. the list master warns the user or
in the case of spammers removes the account.

Edward