There's quite a bit of controversy in other groups about the
advantages and nuisances of mailman's automated list reminders. It's
easy to change the list settings to send monthly reminders to list
subscribers with their current passwords. I'm in favor of regular
reminders for most lists, though once a month might be too often for
some situations. The Mickaboo lists are currently set to NOT send
reminders, and I suggest that the discuss and action lists should be
changed to do so.
Here are my main thoughts: List reminders make it easier for
subscribers to get used to dealing with their own subscription issues
via the web (changing email address, digest vs individual messages,
etc). Making it easier for subscribers to set parameters to suit
their own needs means more subscribers stay subscribed rather than
unsubscribing in frustration.
Opponents say monthly reminders are a nuisance, but I've only heard
that from tech-savvy folks who could easily set their subscriptions
to "no reminder email". My reasoning is that if someone finds a
once-a-month email reminder *terribly annoying* and that individual
can't figure out how to turn it off themselves (it's easy to
do-it-yourself via the web interface), then they deserve to be stuck
with an email password reminder.
For those who are subscribed to multiple Mickaboo lists, please note
that only ONE reminder is sent for all lists. If someone is on
Admins, Techlist, Discussion, and Action and ALL of those lists are
set to send reminders, each subscriber receives only ONE email on the
first day of the month.
To make the change, a list admin goes to each list under "general
options" and changes "Send monthly password reminders?" to "Yes".
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Lissa Shoun
408-297-9795 San Jose, California
Technical Communications, Web Consulting & Fire Breathing
