[rfc] bug handling priorities

[Ben Finney]

"Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen at xemacs.org> writes:

> Ben Finney writes:
>  > I raise it because [requiring a site-specific account to
>  > participate is] not a restriction suffered by discussions on this
>  > mailing list,
> 
> Maybe not. It is on all mailing lists I run, though (non-members are
> moderated, and that typically costs them a lot more time than
> subscribing would).

The topic is now drifting wildly, but I must address the above very
common misconception.

The issue with requiring a site-specific account is only marginally
about the initial setup time. The issue is primarily the ongoing
maintenance cost: each extra account forces a resolution of the tradeoff
between managing that account securely, or not spending the time to do
so and allowing it to go unmanaged. Both options are less desirable than
not having to make the choice at all.

Posting to a moderated forum, on the other hand, is a cost borne
primarily by the moderator (so if you choose to perform moderation, you
have my thanks but it's not something I ask anyone to do), and there is
no ongoing cost to the poster: they don't have to do anything except
wait.

-- 
 \            “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” |
  `\                       —Melvin Kranzberg's First Law of Technology |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney