monthly password reminders -- default to yes vs. no?

Folks,

A member of a mailing list I run complained about getting his mailing list 
password, in the clear, every month.  Apparently this is the default for mailman 
and I hadn't ever thought about it.

Having spent the requisite cognitive effort, after receiving the complaint, I 
find myself unable to form a strong opinion one way or the other.  (Which, by 
itself, might engender a strong opinion, but that's for a different thread.)

Certainly the sending a password in the clear sounds like a terrible idea and 
one might expect it to be enough to mandate turning the default off.
d/
However, these are discussion lists, not mission-critical 
collaboration-and-sign-off lists.  In addition, I find myself forgetting list 
passwords oftend enough to think that getting a periodic reminder doesn't seem 
like such a bad idea.

In other words, this seems like a mechanism worthy of legitimate pro arguments 
and con arguments.

So I thought I'd ask you all for opinions...


-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net