[Balug-admin] Ugh! ... the announce list is NOT FOR JOB POSTINGS!!!

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Michael Paoli (Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu):

> Ugh! ... the announce list is NOT FOR JOB POSTINGS!!!

Because it's by nature supposed to be low-traffic, I'd _strongly_
suggest that the only way it can work is if the moderation flag gets set
for everyone except a small set of people trusted to post only genuinely
on-topic announcements.  (Other people could still post, but their
postings would be held for admin attention.)

> Job announcements aren't suitable for the balug-announce list - keep 'em
> off there!

You're preaching to the choir, Michael. 

The people who are a problem are the seven you refer to, who posted
transparently inappropriate messages to balug-announce-balug.org --
not to mention the innumerable people who'll probably follow their 
example.

Have a look at the listinfo page for that mailing list:
http://lists.balug.org/listinfo.cgi/balug-announce-balug.org

Notice the lack of any indication about what is (and is not)
appropriate, or even of what the list is for?  Compare:

http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire
http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/svlug-announce[1]

On the former (the "conspire") list, the explicit policy includes:

   While we appreciate the need for jobs postings, they easily overwhelm
   this small mailing list: So, you must submit them via e-mail to the
   listadmin, who'll decide whether to post them. Reasons why the answer
   has been "no" in the past have included their having already been
   posted to other local LUG mailing lists. (We get tired of seeing the
   same posts everywhere.)

For balug-announce-balug.org, I would actually strongly recommend that
the listinfo page say something like this:

   This list has been created for announcements relating to the 
   Bay Area Linux User's Group.  Other announcements may be approved
   by the listadmins or not; we'll judge appropriateness.  In 
   particular, NO jobs-offered or sought postings will be approved.  

Separately and in addition, I'd personally recommend that
http://lists.balug.org/listinfo.cgi/balug-talk-balug.org/ -- which,
again, currently has _nothing_ about what the list's for, get something
like this:

    This is a general discussion forum for the Bay Area Linux User
    Group.  

    Per list policy, our (subscriber-accessible) membership roster and
    public message archives display unobscured posting addresses. If you're
    trying to hide your e-mail address from spammers, avoid this list.

    While we appreciate the need for jobs postings, they easily
    overwhelm this small mailing list, and we ask that you take them
    to any of the many jobs forums such as SVLUG Jobs
    (http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/jobs) and BayLISA-Jobs
    (http://www.baylisa.org/services.shtml), instead.

I have administrative access to all three of BALUG's Mailman lists, and
(physically) can implement in a flash whatever is agreed upon -- but
(just to reassure people) would not do anything of the sort without a
fairly high degree of consensus.