This mailing list has now been modified to restrict posting only to list members.
The proposal for this change was made on the "linear transparency in bitmap patterns" thread. I said I would make the change if a dozen people voted in favor, and no one voted to oppose. These conditions were met decisively this evening, and so the change has taken affect.
The motivation for this change is that it will make it more difficult for spammers to send spam to the list.
The one main downside to this change is that it will also make it more difficult for Inkscape newbies to post questions. This was the original reason why we did not set the list up this way.
However, we have comment forms on the website that people could use if they really did not wish to join. Also, the inconvenience to users not on the list needs to be weighed against the inconvenience of users *on* the list.
As well, while this may inconvenience some users, this type of mailing list setting is becoming more and more common, so should not be too surprising to new users.
In addition, non-list members benefit from this change because the online list archives will have less spam, and thus will be easier to navigate through.
If anyone has any concerns, then now is the time to speak up! Otherwise, this change will become permanent as of this time tomorrow.
Thanks, Bryce