Re: OFFTOPIC Re: mailing list questions
=?iso-8859-1?Q?Mikko_H=E4nninen?= (Mikko.Hanninen@dna.fi)
Tue, 16 May 2000 01:12:11 +0300
sasha <sashav@sprintmail.com> wrote on Mon, 15 May 2000:
> So I've gone through all this thread and considered all the different opinions
> and pieces of information voiced here. It's all very interesting and
> educational.
Well, at least something good. :-)
I actually had planned to not post in this thread anymore, however now
that I've had a day away, I guess I've changed my mind.
Yes, looks like I had quite a lot to say: Long post warning, read at
your own risk. :-)
I'm just an AfterStep user, and as such, another list member on this
list. The decision about list reply-to isn't mine, and I don't think it
should be. It should be the list maintainer's, and hopefully he also
considers the needs and wishes of the list users in general. I have my
views, and I've tried to explain as best I can why I have those views.
However I could be wrong and I acknowledge this; what I think is the
best for the list may not be so. But if I didn't think my point is good,
I wouldn't have bothered to post. :-)
> BUt just how much justified this is, and do we really have to play by every
> rule at all costs? I mean face it - we do not have much traffic here ( which is
> good since it does not distract developers from their late afternoon sleep), so
> even if somebody posts a message that makes you wondering about what kind of
> system person is running - there is no harm whatsoever in asking it on the
> list, and not sending private message.
Well, you're indeed right that we should consider the list's needs, and
the needs of the userbase. The list exists for the users, not the other
way around.
Something I didn't state earlier is that Reply-To set to the list will
generate more traffic, and more off-topic posts (emails which should
have been sent in private), accidental emails, etc. Maybe this list is
so small that it doesn't matter. I don't know how many people are
subscribed. It may even be that this is what is wanted.
I do think there are many valid situations in which a private reply is
preferred. What if someone posts a flame on the list? What if someone
sends a chain letter? What if someone is curious about a line in my
signature? All these emails may make someone want to send a reply,
possibly a heated one, and I do believe in a majority of those
situations a private reply would be better than publically on the list.
Heated (emotional) emails tend to generate heated replies, and as such
lead to flame wars.
I guess the question is, how seriously does the list want to discourage
off-topic postings? To generalise, Reply-To set to the list will
generate more off-topic posts, while not set to list will tend to
discourage it.
I don't know how many people are on this list, it may be that if it's
just 20 people, then off-topic posts aren't a problem at all and nobody
*minds* them. But if the list ever grows, then I can almost promise you
that eventually there will be a need to change that policy, as you will
want to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Bigger and busier mailing
lists almost always tend to have a problem with getting too many
off-topic postings, ie. more noise. (Unless they're moderated.)
Maybe you don't expect the list to ever grow, in which case then you
really don't need to worry about it becoming very busy.
The considerations for a small list are different, and then perhaps it's
desireable to just plan that "we'll do it this way first, and change in
the future if we need to" -- that's a plan too, and I suppose as good
as anything else. It's not without problems either, you may get some
problems when people get used to one behaviour and suddenly get
something else.
One reason why I think it should be important that replies don't always
automatically go to the list is that I feel people should make a
conscious *choice* whether to send private or public email. The choice
can be as simple as "do I use reply or do I use group-reply?", I don't
mean a complex "I need to send to this specific address which only works
today and use the 67-character list password." I think this because
posting publically is different to private email: you should be more
careful in what you say, what you quote, what kind of tone you use...
Email communication can be quite tricky, misunderstandings are easy, and
the care you should take when writing emails increases proportianally to
the number of people you are writing to. There's a lot of difference
whether you're talking to 1 or 50 people.
The above ties to the argument about discouraging off-topic posts. If
people are made to choose whether they want to send a post privately or
to the list, it means they are less likely post off-topic messages.
> On the other hand we have an inconvinience of having to type in ML address
> manually or hitting Reply To All and getting double the e-mail we should.
> I mean I'm lazy, and it really irritates me to have to type 22 characters of ML
> address.
Hmmm, your email program doesn't have an addressbook? I have an "as"
alias which expands to the list's address. If I send a new email, I
just address it to "as" and it gets sent to the list. So, I don't have
much of a problem there. I could tell you "then you need a better email
program" but I won't because it would be really rude. :-)
Also, I don't think getting double copies of emails is that bad. Again,
that's a matter of personal preference. I also have the option of
running an email duplicate filter, and I've done so in the past but
don't currently.
To conclude this email which got a lot more longer than I intended :-),
I'll just say that it should be considered what's best for *this* list.
Honestly, I personally can live with both settings (for one, my email
program even has an $ignore_list_reply_to setting which I have turned
"on", it's meant precisely for lists which set Reply-To) -- so it's more
of the principle of the thing, for me. And that, whatever the choice is,
it's not made uninformed without considering all the aspects. I suppose
and hope that after my long emails, if they were read, that won't be the
case. :-)
Mikko
--
// Mikko Hänninen, aka. Wizzu // wiz@iki.fi // http://www.iki.fi/wiz/
// The Corrs list maintainer // net.freak // DALnet IRC operator /
// Interests: roleplaying, Linux, the Net, fantasy & scifi, the Corrs /
I want patience, and I WANT IT NOW!
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