At 11:50 AM 10/12/1999 -0500, firstname.lastname@example.org wrote:
>But the lists are public, and meant to be joined in an automated
>manner. Again I am asking what acceptable limits may be, one
>person/list/server? Two? Three? Is it considered some sort of
>spam (obviously not UCE) to go over this threshold?
Here's a really simple rule:
* It's acceptable to use a mailing list in the manner in which it is
intended to be used.
If you subscribe once, so you can read the mailing list, that's good; if
you subscribe twice, so you can read it from work and from home, that's
good; if you subscribe three times, so you can read it from work, from
home, and from your old Aunt Edna's house, when you're forced to visit on
alternate Wednesdays in October and July, that's good.
If you're randomly subscribing a hundred addresses for whatever reason, it
sounds like you're abusing a resource for your own purpose, not setting
things up so that *you* can read the mailing list.
Trying to argue legalisms, abusing them as you go, really only works in
courtrooms, where the system is set up to be manipulated in that manner.
(Which is what happens when you let lawyers write the laws.)
Here's a corollary to that rule:
* Don't be a hoser.
I really can't imagine why that even needs to be explained more.