Issue #18: Access to spi-private mailing list archives unclear or impossible

The behavior has changed, presumably following the modernization of SPI
mailing lists. Trying to access archives now brings to an Authentication
page which contains:

> The site you are about to log into is run by pgarchives_private. If
> you choose to proceed with this authentication, your name and email
> address will be shared with /pgarchives_private/.
>
> Please confirm that you consent to this sharing.
>
> Consent to sharing data with pgarchives_private Consent to sharing
> this data

Activating the "Proceed with login" button yields:

> You are not currently subscribed to any mailing list on this server.
> Account not created.

Since access now seems impossible, I am retitling this report to "Access
to spi-private mailing list archives unclear or impossible".

On 2021-04-15 16:32, Philippe Cloutier wrote:
>
> Hi Michael,
>
> Le 2021-04-10 à 20:12, Michael Schultheiss a écrit :
>> Philippe Cloutier wrote:
>>> SPI's website allows (visibly) to consult the archives of the spi-private
>>> mailing list, viahttp://lists.spi-inc.org/private/spi-private/
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, this requires authentication using an unspecified password. I
>>> for one am currently unable to access the archives as a result (I do not
>>> remember ever managing to access).
>> All mailman lists have user level passwords. If you don't recall your
>> spi-private password, you can enter your email in the final box on
>> http://lists.spi-inc.org/listinfo/spi-private and click [Unscubscibe or
>> edit options] and get a password reminder from the next page.
>
>
> Thank you, I managed to access the archives thanks to the "password
> reminder". I also understood what happened. I had never set a password
> for spi-private. The password was determined by Mailman, and indicated
> to me in the mail which I received on subscription.
>
> That subscription mail (and therefore my password) has been in my
> mailbox for 4 years. In my opinion, this might constitutes a security
> issue; anyone who would gain access to the mailbox of an spi-private
> subscriber who did not delete their subscription message would gain
> access to the full history of spi-private.
>
>
> That being said, to go back to the original problem, the paragraph
> "(/The subscribers list is only available to the list
> administrator./)" which starts the Spi-private Subscribers section in
> http://lists.spi-inc.org/listinfo/spi-private seems to suggest the
> whole section is irrelevant for most subscribers.
>
> I recommend the following:
>
> 1. Indicate in http://lists.spi-inc.org/private/spi-private/ that all
> subscribers have a password, and that it can be sent as a reminder.
> 2. Clarify the Spi-private Subscribers section by:
> 1. Moving the paragraph about unsubscribing first.
> 2. Merging the first 2 paragraphs (the parenthesis can be merged
> into the "Enter your admin address and password to visit the
> subscribers list" paragraph.)
> 3. Fixing the "Unsubscribe or edit options" button's label so it
> covers all its functions.
>
> --
> This mail's original content (non-quoted parts) is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
>
> Philippe Cloutier
> http://www.philippecloutier.com

--
Philippe Cloutier
https://www.philippecloutier.com