[balug-admin] (lists, policies, etc.)

[Michael Paoli]

Quoting Xavier <balug-talk@xav.to>:

> Rick Moen wrote:
> > Quoting Larry Platzek (larryp@inow.com):
> >> No it was not me that approved the posting!
> >> I do agree it was not the right thing to do!
>
> I probably should have not have let those build up in the first place.

Well, hopefully if we get the "right number" of sufficiently active
folks set up as list admins, they shouldn't generally pile up to such
burdensome/annoying (and hazardous or error inducing) levels.

I suggested setting the number of days such items are held before
being dropped to 32 - after having noted that most or all of the
lists were set to 0 (hold "forever"), and that some of the stuff that
got passed through onto the lists was over a month old (and in some
cases over 60 days old).   Rick suggested setting it as low as 5, or
even 3.  I'd guestimate setting it that low should be quite workable
if the stuff is reviewed and dispensed with "fast enough".

> I was fuzzy on the policy regarding how to handle them and hoped one of
> the other admins would lend a hand.
>
> I am curious about who greenlighted them.
> I'm also somewhat disoriented by the flood of response to it. :-)

Well, I (and others) have complained about them before, and when it
happened again, some of that "unfinished" buisness was brought up
again - seems from earlier stuff we reached agreements on lists and
policys and usage and stuff, but for the most part I don't think we
every got it sufficiently formalized (e.g. mostly there are just some
items in the list discussion(s) and announcement(s), and there was the
addition of the "admin" list to keep BALUG administrivia likely to be
uninteresting to most, away from the "talk" list.)

> > 1. Who to your knowledge has the current listadmin password for our
> > three mailing lists (other than you and me)?  I've not passed it on to
> > anyone, FYI.
>
> I was the one who implemented the password change after a small
> consensus and passed it on to Larry/Dick.
>
> My understanding is that anyone interested in assisting should contact
> Dick Verna or Larry Platzek for consideration, or for clarification on
> access changes if you've been admining in the past and were cut off.

> It might be a good idea to start a CC list of admins, mods, etc. to keep
> BALUG maintainers up to speed with each other and generally make things
> less uncoordinated. I'm wary about starting actual admin topics on a
> public forum.

I guess I'm of a rather/somewhat different opinion - that *most* of
such stuff should be "discussed" in a public forum, and that the
"admin" (balug-admin@lists.balug.org) list is fully suitable for that.
It also has such advantages, as if/when we've got a new person with
lots of time and interest in that general area, they can read/skim the
"admin" archives (and "announce" items) going back a fair while, and
get "up to speed" relatively quickly on
history/decisions/issues/actions, etc.  For any and/or all items that
should not be publicly accessible, those can always be handled via
separate e-mail - e.g. "talks"/negotiations/communications on
arranging speaker(s) for meetings and other things of that nature are
typically handled via non-list e-mail.  Whether or not we want to add
a separate "private" distribution list is a separate and debatable
item (with its various pros and cons).

As I suggested earlier, probably useful for those of us available and
interested and/or with a particular stake in these matters, to discuss
such administrivia at our next BALUG meeting at one of the tables.  I
think per Rick's mention, it's good to have the "discussion" in e-mail
or on list, to formalize and document it ... but we can probably do
that after the BALUG meeting to further/"complete" whatever
discussions we had at the meeting, and to document
results/conclusions, actions to be taken, etc.

> > 2.  Whom does e-mail to the "balugadmin@balug.org" and
>
> I'm not sure about the first one, the second one is me. I assume the
> first redirects to several other people, but I haven't seen the control
> for that, and I've apparently been mistaken about how many active
> admin/mods feed off of balugadmin@balug.org...