[discuss] Moderator-Forced Unsubscribes
Barbara Duprey
directly asked to force-unsubscribe somebody, like "Michael Considine"
(mlcon...@yahoo.com), who is bombing the users list with demands to
be unsubscribed. He's been given full and explicit directions on how to
do this, as well as at least one offer to help him off-list, but he's
just staying around and sometimes "responding" to every message he gets.
(I suspect that this is a troll, or perhaps a bot that runs
periodically.) There are others who seem to try but for some reason just
can't complete the unsubscribe -- maybe because the list messages are
being passed through from another account, but the confirmation message
is not. The unsubscribing would have to be forced to the extent that no
further action (like unsubscribe confirmation) is required from the
user, and I don't know if moderators have this capability.
What do you think? Would this be feasible? I wouldn't want to abuse any
moderators, they're doing a real service and it's not given much
appreciation. What I'm thinking is that somebody on the list could
supply a relevant message (by forwarding, or if that's too "forge-able"
by supplying its reference number) directly to the moderator.
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Paul
> It would be great if Paul (or another moderator, if any) could be directly
> asked to force-unsubscribe somebody, like "Michael Considine" (
> mlcon...@yahoo.com), who is bombing the users list with demands to be
> unsubscribed. He's been given full and explicit directions on how to do
> this, as well as at least one offer to help him off-list, but he's just
> staying around and sometimes "responding" to every message he gets. (I
> suspect that this is a troll, or perhaps a bot that runs periodically.)
> There are others who seem to try but for some reason just can't complete the
> unsubscribe -- maybe because the list messages are being passed through from
> another account, but the confirmation message is not. The unsubscribing
> would have to be forced to the extent that no further action (like
> unsubscribe confirmation) is required from the user, and I don't know if
> moderators have this capability.
>
> What do you think? Would this be feasible? I wouldn't want to abuse any
> moderators, they're doing a real service and it's not given much
> appreciation. What I'm thinking is that somebody on the list could supply a
> relevant message (by forwarding, or if that's too "forge-able" by supplying
> its reference number) directly to the moderator.
>
>
I've, in the past, asked for these rights (it not the default 'set' of
abilities given to moderators) so will advise if something comes of it.
I've very recently sent blank emails to the following address which should
mean that the troll only has to hit reply to unsubscribe (but even that may
be a little too hard):
users-unsubscribe-mlconsidine=yaho...@openoffice.org
Maybe others could also send similar messages (or some form of auto-respond)
to 'encourage' the troll to take some action.
/paul
--
Ogden Nash <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/ogden_nash.html> -
"The trouble with a kitten is that when it grows up, it's always a cat."
Barbara Duprey
This sends an unsubscribe confirmation message to the user, who then
needs to reply. It may work, if they (1) get the message and (2) follow
the directions (which can sometimes be more complicated than simply
hitting Reply). But I hope you can convince the Council to give you the
true forcing capability. Thanks for trying!
I've been collecting the results of a bunch of testing on the commands,
such as the [listname]-thread command that could potentially be used to
let unsubscribed posters follow their own threads without needing to be
cc'ed by all the responders. I'm also trying to track down some of the
people who seem to have been subscribed without going through the usual
process. I'll post whatever I come up with here for discussion.
John Kaufmann
> I've, in the past, asked for these rights [to unsubscribe a third party]
> ... so will advise if something comes of it.
>
> I've very recently sent blank emails to the following address which should
> mean that the troll only has to hit reply to unsubscribe (but even that may
> be a little too hard):
> users-unsubscribe-mlconsidine=yaho...@openoffice.org
>
> Maybe others could also send similar messages (or some form of auto-respond)
> to 'encourage' the troll to take some action.
Paul, I think the problem in this case is that Michael Considine /likes/
being a list nuiscance - it's not really a matter of unsubscribing being
too hard, even for his little brain - and you know the rule about
feeding trolls: please don't.
John
Frank Schoenheit, Sun Microsystems Germany
> It would be great if Paul (or another moderator, if any) could be
> directly asked to force-unsubscribe somebody
Moderators don't have this permission, and AFAIK, can't be given it.
Only the list owner can, though I am not sure who's the owner for users.
However, for each list, there's a list-owner@... alias, which should
hopefully give you the owner's attention.
Ciao
Frank
--
- Frank Schönheit, Software Engineer frank.sc...@sun.com -
- Sun Microsystems http://www.sun.com/staroffice -
- OpenOffice.org Base http://dba.openoffice.org -
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John Kaufmann
In a message dated 2009.12.09 02:46 -0500, Frank Schoenheit, Sun
Microsystems Germany wrote:
>> It would be great if Paul (or another moderator, if any) could be
>> directly asked to force-unsubscribe somebody
>
> Moderators don't have this permission, and AFAIK, can't be given it.
> Only the list owner can, though I am not sure who's the owner for users.
> However, for each list, there's a list-owner@... alias, which should
> hopefully give you the owner's attention.
That is welcome news! - maybe we can see if "hopefully" can be more than
that.
John Kaufmann
Barbara Duprey
>
>
>> It would be great if Paul (or another moderator, if any) could be
>> directly asked to force-unsubscribe somebody
>>
>
> Moderators don't have this permission, and AFAIK, can't be given it.
> Only the list owner can, though I am not sure who's the owner for users.
> However, for each list, there's a list-owner@... alias, which should
> hopefully give you the owner's attention.
>
> Frank
So far, I've seen no evidence that anybody actually monitors the
users-owner account. Hmm .. maybe we can petition to have Paul be the
list owner? :-)