flexibility is important

[aaddllii]

hello
the more i familiarize myself with dada mail the more i like it. i strongly suggest to keep it flexible. not all those interested in using dada mail are selling something, nor are they based in the usa. the intended recipients are not in the us as well. there are so many legitimate reasons to use dada mail to inform people about something. many initiatives are run on non-profit basis. the purpose is to spread knowledge, not to make a buck. many people would welcome receiving an email without asking for it and confirming the request. if you give them the option to delete their email in one click (unsubscribe), there is no inconvenience to speak of. double opt-in and double opt-out is too rigid. please keep it flexible. give the owners/administrators the flexibility to make their own judgement of their own situation. give them more options to choose from, not less.

[justin]

nor are they based in the usa.

Can you extrapolate on this? What part of Dada Mail is US-centric?

[aaddllii]

hello
thanks for taking notice. yes, you got my drift, i live in england. i publish a monthly magazine in arabic for readers in the middle east. every country has a different law concerning emails, some countries do not. therefore, my situation is not that of someone who lives in the usa and send emails to fellow americans. of course i try to operate the mailing list according to the highest standards of sensitivity. my announcement is sent once a month; i use a corn job to stay within the limit imposed by the hosting company. i give the readers the options to delete their emails. I also put a form in arabic for people to request adding their email. all these steps are quite reasonable. the two-steps approach can discourage some people (there is also a language barrier and limited access to internet). i am still trying to customize dada mail to suit an arabic reader. i am getting better at customizing it. i have been familiarising myself with it for the last several days. i must say you have made the familiarization process easy for a diligent person. there are comments inside the scripts and you provide detailed instructions on the dada' site; but for non-developers like me, one has to read and try several times. sorry for the long answer. this is not an advertisement for myself. i an trying to give you feedback in the hope it might be useful.

[justin]

I'm not sure what location really has to do with this, but closed-loop opt subscribing is just how things work these days. I write a lot about this:

http://dadamailproject.com/installation ... _mail.html

There's no other service on the Internet where I am opted in, without my knowledge or consent, to receive things I do not want. Why would a mailing list be any different?

[aaddllii]

thanks for the reply. the location is not the issue. it is the intended use of the mailing list.

[justin]

I understand. But, the mass sending of unsolicited email is called, "SPAM". That's not what Dada Mail is about. If you'd like to send a message to an email address, the only thing needed is the addressees permission. That is gotten using the closed-loop opt in system. It's pretty standard. If you do not agree with that standard, then maybe Dada Mail is not for you.

[heh007]

I use DADA mail for a small (500+) church email list. I was very disappointed when I notice the option for the administrator to mass subcribe folks to the list was taken away. Our list is a closed list. Only an administrator can send a message from the list. We use it as an electronic newsletter. I wish you would reconsider taking away this option. I believe you are making assumptions on how the program is used. There needs to be flexablity. I am going to go back an recreate the list with one of the older versions of the program. I do not view the current version as an upgrade . . . for me it is a big downgrade.

[justin]

I use DADA mail for a small (500+) church email list. I was very disappointed when I notice the option for the administrator to mass subcribe folks to the list was taken away.

The feature was not removed, but was deprecated. You can re-enable the feature:


http://dadamailproject.com/support/docu ... trol_panel

But, it will be removed at a later date.


All these points were listed in the changelog, when the feature was changed. Before upgrading, always check out the changelog.

Our list is a closed list. Only an administrator can send a message from the list. We use it as an electronic newsletter.

How would sending a list invitation to subscribe get in the way of any of this?

I believe you are making assumptions on how the program is used.

There's actually some good articles linked throughout this doc:

http://dadamailproject.com/installation ... _mail.html

that talk about why closed-list opt-in is such a good idea, for everyone. I do agree, but only after seriously thinking about it.

There needs to be flexablity.

But, there also should be a well-designed program that shouldn't be so easy to abuse. I am sure I can trust you to use the program correctly, but the fact remains that I receive abuse reports from people using the program incorrectly and I have to do something about it. I don't want to be the cause of this abuse.

I do not view the current version as an upgrade . . . for me it is a big downgrade.

Again, best way to not be surprised about changes in the program is, reading the changelog.

[justin]

For the next version of Dada Mail, I am looking for ideas on how to appease everyone. I've started a new thread, here:

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2457