http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=38993


in reply to RE: RE: MonkMail!
in thread MonkMail!

Well, you do sound contrary. Lucky for you this is Perl Monks Discussion, and contrary opinions are pretty well required for interesting discussion. ;-)

First, I don't want mail from non-monks. Naturally, if I can easily have things this way, I don't care how the system gets implemented on the back end. I would be happy if those monks who wanted @perlmonks.org addresses got them. But email is a commonplace service; monk-only mail would actually be a new service.

Second, do they have sendmail installed here? I don't know; I know next to nothing about how things are set up behind the scenes here. I'm not sure if they're managing blockstackers.com mail in-house, and if they are, I'm not sure they'd want to mess with it.

Third, I'd rather see messages from other monks here than elsewhere. I want my PerlMonks stuff here, and other stuff in other places. And I'd prefer not to have to set up some email account, and then configure it so that it rejected all mail except that forwarded from PerlMonks.

Fourth, I'm not wholly comforted by the thought of people showing up here simply so they can get @perlmonks.org accounts... as seems inevitable.

Adding the /msg pages I mentioned seem like a very simple hack, which could be expanded in time with options to receive and send external mail, or to forward all mail to an external address. Offering another email address to a bunch of people who probably have a dozen addresses apiece seems more like reinventing the wheel.

But I say this with all respect for your opinion. :-)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: RE: RE: RE: MonkMail!
by jptxs (Curate) on Oct 29, 2000 at 21:09 UTC

    hmmm... I suppose your point about mail from non-monks is VERY valid. hadn't thought about it really. jptxs needs to meditate on this further

    "sometimes when you make a request for the head you don't
    want the big, fat body...don't you go snickering."
                                             -- Nathan Torkington UoP2K a.k.a gnat

RE: RE: RE: RE: MonkMail!
by brainpan (Monk) on Oct 31, 2000 at 05:42 UTC
    > First, I don't want mail from non-monks.
    While I understand this concern, I don't really agree with it. As AgentM mentioned in
    the root of this thread, being able to list brainpan@perlmonks.org on my resume would be
    desirable. Making this be an esoteric form of perlmonk-only communication would render
    this benefit null and void. However, I do agree that there should be some defining
    characteristic from mail coming from non-permonks. I've never really done much with
    sendmail, but if it would be possible to add NonPerlmonk=True to the message header
    (and not including this field for perlmonks, lest headers be forged) this would give your
    mail client's mail filters something to search for and deal with as you see fit.

    > Fourth, I'm not wholly comforted by the thought of people showing up here simply so they can get @perlmonks.org accounts... as seems inevitable.

    You seem to be neglecting the fact that this would be true of your 'private message page'
    method as well. In either case, making a perlmonk(ey) rise to a certain status before
    being granted an email address would seem to solve the problem.
      > First, I don't want mail from non-monks.
      While I understand this concern, I don't really agree with it.

      You don't agree with my not wanting mail from non-monks?! That seems very strange.

      As AgentM mentioned in the root of this thread, being able to list brainpan@perlmonks.org on my resume would be desirable.

      Let me say again, "I would be happy if those monks who wanted @perlmonks.org addresses got them." When you can put that address on your resume, I will applaud.

      Making this be an esoteric form of perlmonk-only communication would render this benefit null and void.

      This whole site is, for the most part, an esoteric form of perlmonk-only communciation (the Anonymous Monk account being the limited exception). Helping the members of this community communciate with each other more efficiently seems central to the purpose of the site. Giving the members of this community an email alias seems more like sugar frosting. Nevertheless, there's no reason why we couldn't have both.

      this would give your mail client's mail filters something to search for and deal with as you see fit.

      Placing the burden of (yet more) tinkering with spam filters on individual monks seems a poor solution. If it came to that, I'd rather not have Monk Mail. Having sendmail redirect to /dev/null would be much better, though it still wouldn't accomplish what I'd like without an onsite spool and web-based client.

      > Fourth, I'm not wholly comforted by the thought of people showing up here simply so they can get @perlmonks.org accounts... as seems inevitable.

      You seem to be neglecting the fact that this would be true of your 'private message page' method as well.

      Having Monks-only onsite mail would certainly not draw users to the site who were not already interested enough to be here. Nevertheless, I do not really regard this as a viable objection to the idea of mainstream @perlmonks.org addresses. The benefits much outweigh the possible drawbacks. But it is something of a concern. I think I'd prefer to see the requirements for an address set higher, rather than lower, for this reason. But I don't feel very strongly about this either.

      Understand, I'm not a provincial person, and I want the site to grow. I want everybody to get what they want out of whatever email system evolves. I simply feel that in this case, my notion would be simpler and quicker to implement, and would actually consitute something new for the monks, rather than a gloss on something they've already got. I respect your opinion, but thus far I have not heard an argument which would make me change my own.

      Gee, I didn't realize it was such a problem. the solution would be, of course, to offer options on each disputable topic: I suggested mail forwarding for incoming mail, don't want it? just flip the switch in your user settings. No internal monk mail either, just flip the switch...of course, I agree that, like MonkMaps!, this should be optional. Thanx for all of the great feedback- i eagerly await vroom's response...
      AgentM Systems nor Nasca Enterprises nor Bone::Easy nor Macperl is responsible for the comments made by AgentM. Remember, you can build any logical system with NOR.
RE: RE: RE: RE: MonkMail!
by brainpan (Monk) on Oct 31, 2000 at 05:43 UTC
    > First, I don't want mail from non-monks.
    While I understand this concern, I don't really agree with it. As AgentM mentioned in
    the root of this thread, being able to list brainpan@perlmonks.org on my resume would be
    desirable. Making this be an esoteric form of perlmonk-only communication would render
    this benefit null and void. However, I do agree that there should be some defining
    characteristic from mail coming from non-permonks. I've never really done much with
    sendmail, but if it would be possible to add NonPerlmonk=True to the message header
    (and not including this field for perlmonks, lest headers be forged) this would give your
    mail client's mail filters something to search for and deal with as you see fit.

    > Fourth, I'm not wholly comforted by the thought of people showing up here simply so they can get
    @perlmonks.org accounts... as seems inevitable.


    You seem to be neglecting the fact that this would be true of your 'private message page'
    method as well. In either case, making a perlmonk(ey) rise to a certain status before
    being granted an email address would seem to solve the problem.