Re: Repeated messages (was Re: Suggested improvement : Adjust SEQUENCES)

On Thu, 28 Jun 2001, Tom Lane wrote:

> Alex Pilosov <alex@pilosoft.com> writes:
> > Actually he asked it a week ago (see Jun 22 timestamp in his email). The
> > list server keeps regurgitating old messages and resending them. This has
> > been the behavior for last 2-3 months, and its hella annoying. I thought
> > its just me, but apparently its not.
>
> I think what's been happening a lot lately is:
>
> 1. Someone sends a message to a list they're not subscribed to.
>    majordomo puts it into Marc's "to approve" queue and sends back a
>    note saying the message is being delayed for administrator approval.
>
> 2. Not wanting to wait, the someone subscribes to the target list and
>    resends his message.  Discussion ensues.
>
> 3. Some time later, Marc gets around to emptying the approval queue and
>    allows the original version of the message to be posted.
>
> I agree it's annoying, but I'm not sure what can be done about it.
> Running the PG lists takes a lot of Marc's time already --- I don't
> think it's reasonable to expect him to check for duplications of this
> kind on top of everything else.  (And no, I don't want to drop the
> non-subscriber restriction.  The lists have been wonderfully spam-free
> lately, largely because of Marc's filters.)
>
> Anyone have an idea about an automatic solution that wouldn't take any
> extra admin time?  Maybe, when someone subscribes, automatically drop
> any pending messages from that person in the approval queue?  That'd
> eliminate this kind of duplication, but I'm not sure what the downside
> might be, or how much work it'd be to set up.  (For "drop" read "return
> to sender", anyway...)

Maybe rather do it the other way around: When someone subscribes, if there
are any pending messages from the person, they should go through
immediately, as if it was approved by Marc.

-alex