Rant: Mailing lists

Free software mailing lists suck. Especially Apache’s.

For weeks I have been struggling with Apache mailing lists (apache-users and spamassassin) and now recently with mutt lists.

I know with Apache lists you can use a special syntax:

You can start a subscription for an alternate address, for example "john@host.domain", just add a hyphen and your address (with '=' instead of '@') after the command word: <users-subscribe-john=host.domain@httpd.apache.org>

But when I do it via mutt or a `echo test | mail users-unsubscribe-hendry=dabase.com@httpd.apache.org`. I get no response from the automated mailing list manager. :(

So, If I ever get subscribed it’s generally thanks to the mailing list owner.

Then after lurking a bit, I try post. That never works as the return paths don’t match the email I am subscribed with. Return paths change all the time depending on which machine I sent it from. It could be anything from:

And the first two aren’t working email addresses!

If you must filter, can’t you filter on my From OR Reply-To email address FFS: hendry@iki.fi

All I suggest is for Apache to start using something usable like Google Groups for user support.

Does anyone else feel my frustration?

Found any of my content interesting or useful?