Earlier today I wrote:
>
> Brian Tao's request reminds me that we've seen almost nothing in toasters
> from posters @netapp.com in the last two months. [There was one from
> Charles Roufay on 30 May: before that I can find nothing since 3 May.]
>
> As there used to be quite a lot, I wonder what's behind this. Technical
> problems posting to the list? Managerial edicts telling NetApp employees
> to stop wasting time on us losers?
>
> Not that there's any obligation on NetApp's part to contribute, of course.
I have had several responses from within NetApp, all saying much the same
thing. Steven Yee specifically requested that I publish his response here,
so I will do that:
| I would appreciate if you would repost this to toasters for me.
|
| NetApp Employees (well, engineering at least ;) still read toasters,
| and often privately reply as appropriate. However we are currently unable to
| easily post replies due to our use of an "internal exploder"/dl forwarder.
| With spam-preventing changes to list posting we cannot post unless
| every employee individually joins the list (not highly recommended company wide).
|
| Even worse, if we do a reply, it will often go to the list instead of the poster
| and we don't even see a bounced message, it just silently disappears
| and never shows up on the list (so it could be days before we notice
| that the answer was never received).
|
| Should you (or any lister) recieve an answer directly from NetApp, in most
| cases the reply can be reposted to the list for the benefit of all, if in doubt
| as to the appropriateness of the reply, please check with the originator of the
| message.
|
| The list owner and maintainers were (as of 2 months ago) aware of the NetApp
| posting problem but I have heard of no resolution as of yet. Believe me, this has
| caused some concern in the engineering side of the house.
|
| steve.
| --
| Steven Yee == sdy(a)netapp.com
| System Management Software
| Network Appliance Inc
This doesn't seem to me to be at all a healthy situation. I understand
the necessity to close the list in a hurry due to the spam situation,
but problems like the above ought to have been ironed out by now. Most
list management software I am aware of allows for the set of permitted
posters and the (direct) list recipients to be different.
Would fubar care to comment?
Chris Thompson
Email: cet1(a)cam.ac.uk