Re: Publicly-readable list for only DDs and DMs to post to

[Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de>]

* Ian Jackson:

> tl;dr:
>   pls can we create debian-members@l.d.o with posting acceptance rules
>   copied from debian-devel-announce[1] and subscriber list maintained in
>   sync with debian-private.

I think the only half-successful setups for such discussion lists
provide web-only read access.  If non-posters can subscribe, they are
tempted to take part in the discussion, only to be rejected, which is
bad because it rubs in the DD/non-DD distinction.

Even with web-only read access, Cc:s still have a strange effect.
Non-posters might try to reply to a Cc:ed copy, and their replies
propagate through the unrestricted parts of the Cc: list, but not to
the restricted list.  This isn't very welcoming, either.

Web archives without general posting privileges are also unfair to
those whose matters are discussed on the list, but cannot add to the
archives on their own.

In the end, the user experience is worse than a completely private
list.  At least it's easy to completely ignore the existence of such
lists if you are not a subscriber.