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@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@cam.ac.uk
My apologies.
I have been extremely busy this summer (yay, working at a university) and have been neglecting the list. Alas, my friends at MathWorks have also been under increasing amounts of stress, as well.
Carl and I have opted to re-open the list. This will mean that spam will arrive from time to time. Oh well.
Why don't we change the list software to combat the spam? Unlike the old days at MathWorks, they can no longer just go fix things and do them The Right Way... I might be tempted to move the list off MathWorks servers in the future, but that'll have to wait until after summer has passed. :-(
I am very sorry for not being able to pay more attention to the list. I *do* have all posts that were submitted for approval and will try to get those out this week.
K.
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Chris Thompson -
fubar＠pir.net