[Wpfw-lsb] How does the LSB want to accept new mailing list members?

[D. N. Russo]

Hello LSB,
I told myself we'd deal with this bridge when we come to it...
We've had our first non-board member ask to subscribe to the mailing list. 
A WPFW programmer wants to receive messages.

I initially thought that the public could simply read the archives and mail 
messages to the list address, thus keeping the subscribers limited to the 
board members only. It would be less administrative on me, too. But the 
mailing list software allows us to deal with this in several ways. You can 
allow the public to subscribe to the wpfw-lsb mailing list, if you would 
like. I can set all non-LSB list subscribers to have their messages 
moderated, so that email traffic doesn't get out of control, and the 
moderators approve whatever isn't spam or inappropriate for the list. That 
way, people who are interested in getting the LSB email can do so and can 
essentially linger, read and be in-the-know. They can accomplish the same 
thing by going to the archives page, though, without adding more subscriber 
maintenance.
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/wpfw-lsb/

Basically, my only concern is that the list becomes yet another public 
discussion forum, which is not the intent of this mailing list, in my 
opinion. It's the Board's workspace to make communications efficient and 
the archives should reflect the LSB in discussion in between meetings. Not 
the LSB talking/debating/arguing with the public. But you all need to 
decide how much public level participation you want on this list. There are 
other forums for people to discuss WPFW. Do you want this mailing list to 
be open game for drawn out conversations and debate, or do you want it to 
be a controlled environment where business can be done?

1) The current list subscription policy is: the public can email the list 
without a problem at wpfw-lsb at lists.mutualaid.org and they can read the 
archives from the web. Moderators are supposed to approve the letters from 
the public addressed to the LSB.

2) If the policy is that members of the public can subscribe to receive 
emails only and all email is moderated, then that would be a slight 
variation that the technology does provide for and I can manage. This would 
make it easier for the public to pay attention to what the board is saying, 
and be able to contribute at the committee level. As Programmers and other 
WPFW family begin joining the committees, then it makes sense to adapt the 
policy.

It sounds like the LSB has evolved to the point where OPTION #2 is favorable.

I want access to the LSB to be as open as possible, while at the same time 
not allowing the list to become an inefficient tool.

thanks for your feedback. you can email me OFFlist if you would like.
If you like OPTION 1 or OPTION 2, please say so. If you have an alternative 
proposal, please write it out. Questions welcome.

Rupert