Re: [pgsql-www] Forums at postgresql.com.au

On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 18:12, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> Alban Hertroys <dalroi(at)solfertje(dot)student(dot)utwente(dot)nl> writes:
>> I'm not one of the people who've been communicating off-list about this with him, so I may be wrong, but to my understanding what Magnus wants (the requirement, not a solution to it) is this:
>
>> - Person A is on the forums and sends a message that ends up on the ML (and on the forums, naturally).
>> - Someone on the ML, Person B, sends him a _private_ reply, not intended to end up in either the ML or the forums.
>> - The message goes to the forum software and is passed on to Person A, and does _not_ end up on the forums or the ML.
>
> I tend to agree with Bruce that that's not necessarily a hard
> requirement: a person who's using the forums to post has more or less
> disclaimed interest in getting private email, no?
>
> But what I think we *do* need to worry about is that someone using the
> mailing lists might try to send what they *think* is a private reply.
> We need to be sure that a reply-to-sender-only operation does not end up
> getting splattered across the forums and/or lists.  Maybe bouncing it is
> sufficient, in which case ML posts originating from forum users don't
> have to carry a working From: address.

Depends on your definitoin of working From. I think they need to carry
a working From, from the perspective of SMTP, because otherwise they
run a higher risk of getting eaten by anti-spam.

That From doesn't necessarily need to go to the user - if it goes to
something that does a "controlled bounce" informing the original
poster, that should still work.

> What I'm more concerned about myself is that forum users be
> identifiable.  We don't allow anonymous trolls on the mailing lists,
> and I'm not pleased at the idea that a forum might provide an end-run
> around that.  I don't necessarily think that every posting has to
> carry a working From: address to meet that requirement, though.
> A forum handle of some sort would probably be sufficient.

The forum is, AIUI, requiring a validated registration, so we know
that it's not just a completely unidentified person. I assume the
forum will be putting the registered *name* in the name part of the
>From field still, even if it uses a shared address.

--
 Magnus Hagander
 Me: http://www.hagander.net/
 Work: http://www.redpill-linpro.com/