Posted by Mark on 01/13/06 20:24

Stut wrote:

> Mark wrote:
>
>>Gabor Hojtsy wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Dear Pop Mihai Sergiu,
>>>
>>>By sending this email you (again) posted to a public mailing list which
>>>is archived at multiple places, of which really few are under our
>>>control. There would be no point in removing your message from our
>>>archives, as it is also posted to an unknown number of other archives
>>>around the internet.
>>>
>>>Also there is no point in attaching a signature below your message which
>>>prohibits the review of the contents, as the signature is only read
>>>after the message is alread read.
>>>
>>>
>>It should also be noted that simply saying something is "confidential" is
>>not enough. The sender has to exercise a level of care to prevent "private
>>and confidential" information and communications from becoming public.
>>Obviously posting any such information to a fundamentally public forum
>>negates any such expectations. It is like screaming, at the top of your
>>lungs, in a public venue, a secret. You would not have any reasonable
>>expectation of privacy even if you screamed "don't tell anyone."
>>
>>
>
> Nice analogy.
>
>>However, his rant does present a real issue. Forcing people to use "real"
>>email addresses exposes them to SPAM and abuse. I would suggest, if
>>possible and resources permit, that some sort of aliasing/registration
>>system be deployed where every post is may by "anonABCDEFGH@php.net" and
>>every "ABCDEFGH" is a registered user who's email address is known.
>>
>>
>
> I would have to disagree with this. I've been on lots of 'public'
> mailing lists for quite a while and this is the first time I've ever
> seen a complaint of this nature. I really think the OP should have taken
> more care to read the mailing lists page on php.net before signing up.
> It clearly states that there are archives and that they are searchable.
> If privacy was a concern then these archives should have been checked to
> make sure they obscure email addresses.
>
> If there is any issue I think it's that the above mentioned web page
> does not make it clear that there are lots of archives in addition to
> those mentioned that php.net does not control. At any rate I don't see
> any need for php.net to implement a system for anonymising posts - that
> would be a huge waste of resources as a result of a single complaint out
> of what is probably many thousands of list members.
>

Well, I'm pretty sure that for every *one* verbal gripe there are hundreds
or thousands of unspoken gripes. I was reluctant to post to this news group
for the reasons of spam and abuse. I upgraded my spamassasin and went for
it.

I have a long dead PHP account from when I originally contributed msession
to PHP (about 5 or 6 years ago) and I STILL get spam!!

I think to say "it isn't an issue" is a level of denial. I suspect there are
many people who just won't post because of the restriction.

Anyway, <RANT> I have long since learned that the PHP group does not like
change of any kind except that suggested from within a small group of core
people, and despite any reasoned argument will resort to denial, ignorance,
and/or ad homonym to refuse or belittle any such suggestion.</RANT> it is
just a suggestion, do with it as you please.

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