[members-discuss] Bots subscribed to the list

Elvis Daniel Velea wrote:
> So, I think it's time we propose and vote to give the RIPE NCC the
> mandate to really maintain this mailing list and forcefully unsubscribe
> the bots and auto-responders.

the NCC staff already do this.  No need for votes or resolutions.

There are a couple of problems:

1. you can't tell in advance which email addresses are connected to
autoresponders and which aren't.  People add autoresponder email
addresses to the list over time, so if you have a period where there is
little or no email traffic to the mailing list, the list will end up
with a bunch of autoresponders

2. most of the autoreplies go to the people who post to the list, so the
RIPE NCC staff don't have visibility into who's autoresponding.

3. Some people sign up full-blown ticketing systems, like
servicedesk at mew.gov.kw.  This is frustrating because it poops replies to
the list address instead of the sender.

4. the email addresses that the bounces come from are not necessarily
the email addresses signed up to the list.  I.e. tracing can be hard.

The NCC staff can only react to this problem, and mostly only when
posters inform them about what email addresses are sending out bounces.

If you post to the list and get a bunch of autoreplies, the best thing
is to email the RIPE NCC mailing list admin directly so that they can do
something about it.  If members-discuss-owner at ripe.net isn't the best
address to use, maybe someone from the NCC can clarify what address
would be appropriate.

Nick