On Wed, Aug 14, 2002 at 11:07:06AM -0400, Charlie Summers wrote:
On our moderated lists, a simple password is placed in the Subject: header field. Others easily add the Approved: header field as the first line of the mail body.
So I would argue that applying a custom header field is the LEAST "easy" method.
Well, there're different senses of "easy". I had in mind the ease of use after it's been set up, in terms of time and keystrokes needed.
What's the difference if I add the approval to the first line of the body in Eudora or pine, Outlook Express or elm?
None - *if* you have to do it that way, typing it in. But it's much easier to just hit ctrl-a after viewing the message in mutt, or even |a<return> in pine or elm. (OK, a decent editor will allow me to define a macro that does most of it - but pico won't, nor will most of those Windowsy things, I suspect.)
why not apply one of the boatloads of available filters to rc.local.s00 that allow the Approval: to be the first line of the body?
See above. Perhaps it's a personality issue, but if I had to moderate a busy mailing list by "Click Forward, type (or pick from addressbook) the list address again, wait for editor to start, type Approved:..., close editor, send the message" -method, I'd go nuts. And I don't want to tell people they have to do something in a way I wouldn't want to do myself. That said, I do plan to pick one of those filters, as some people will anyway be using MUAs that can't be dealt with otherwise, and some people do find it easier to type lots of text than having to press <control> even once. But I want to come up with easier method (as I understand it) for those MUAs where it's possible. Hmm. Perhaps it could be argued that approving a message should not be too easy, at least for people who insist on using idiot MUAs, and offer only the "Insert Approved: at the top of the message" -method, leaving faster ways for those to find who can be bothered to look or at least ask for such... -- Tapani Tarvainen