Just a quick (though long) note on the "list options"
thread ... for those who asked ... (and prolly more
than anyone wanted ... :-))

FWIW, I happen to agree with Graham in regards
to these issues (i.e., openness -- allow
attachments and allow non-members to post).
I also get the sense from reading some of the
posts that a preponderance of the opinion expressed
is along these lines as well. The idea of the
list is to be as loose and open as reasonable
and practical, while keeping a sense of community.
List policy is decided, ideally, by consensus (but
more on that later) -- my opinion should not be
that important for shaping list policy.

If the issue is simply spam (on the member/non-member
issue), then I would point out that the volume of
discussion of the issue possibly exceeded the
volume of the spam :-)

These 2 issues have been coming up since the
beginning of time in many internet communities
over the years (including this one). I wager
they will come up one or two more times on this
list by next spring. The problem with these
issues is that people are divided on them, and
consensus is not possible to reach (or at least I
have never seen it reached on a large list). I
will offer the opinion that attempting to reach
a consensus on these issues on this list is a
waste of time, but people are free to try ...

What then, is the best approach to handling a
such issues? Most lists I am on handle them
by fiat of the list managers, and the issues usually
only come up when the options are set to "open"
(because people respond to "active bother" caused
by the openness, but don't respond to the "passive
bother", if you will, brought about by "closed"
options (hopefully people get this point without
further elaboration ...). Furthermore, The
situation is slightly different here because the
content itself on this list can be part of the game,
rather than just noise as it is on most lists.

Anyway, no matter how you set these options, a
significant fraction of the list will want them
the other way. It is that way now (possibly), and
will be that way if we change them. It turns out
that, logically anyway, if you leave the list options
"open", then people can take steps personally to
"close" them on their own systems (by using mail
filters, spam filters, read on the web, virus scanners,
operating systems and mail programs that are better
designed than others, etc) -- yet if you set the
options to "closed", people cannot do much personally
if they like them "open".

So, as a personal philosophy, I tend toward
decentralised decision making by individuals rather
than centralised decision making for all.

Now, this assumes that the issue is fairly evenly
split. If a poll were to show a huge majority (and
don't ask me what huge is because I'm not sure), then
I would honor that. For example, if only 2 people
wanted the options open, and everyone else wanted them
closed, then I would close them. If it were about
51-49%, I most likely would not make a decision that
would leave 49% of the list in a situation where
there was nothing personally that could be done. (Feel
free to explore further or start a poll, or explore what
majority would be appropriate ...)

Just MHO ... :-)

Cheers