Bug in mailing lists; unfriendly to non-subscribers

[Chris Tyler]

On Mon, 2010-07-05 at 09:23 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:57:48 -0400
> Chris Tyler wrote:
> 
> > a process that takes a few seconds
> 
> I understand the need to subscribe, but the process does
> not take a few seconds. For one thing, a lot of ISPs
> seem to be blocked or are blocking replies (you can't ever
> tell which one), so you have to try different mail
> accounts till you find one that actually works both ways,
> and not knowing how long it might take to get a reply,
> it can take a while to decide the first address you used
> isn't going to work.

Well, obviously, when using a mailing list, a end-to-end working mail
configuration is needed. (This underlines the value of the "confirm this
mail" step in the subscription process).

But that said, when you have a working mail setup, it takes only a few
seconds to subscribe to a list (e.g., once on a Fedora mailing list, it
takes only a few seconds to add another. Maybe a few minutes, if your
mail system is slow).

-Chris