[Glastonbury] bits

[Rick Fitzsimmons]

Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 07, 2004 at 10:28:42PM +0000, Rick Fitzsimmons wrote:
> 
>>And another thing...
>>Some people seem to "reply" to a message, then change the subject and 
>>start a new topic. Aaargh! If you display the list sorted by thread, new 
>>topics pop up in the middle of threads. Very unhelpful :-(
>>
>>(This thread started as "My CUPS floweth not", then became "suse 
>>licence", then "bits" !)
>>
> 
> Advice given to the list over the last couple of years on several
> occasions: learn to ask sensible questions.
> 
> To which we should perhaps now add: learn to use the threading features
> of your mail client.
My point exactly! Hence, don't use "reply" unless replying. (Can't put 
it any simpler than that.)

Or in more technical terms, don't have your email's "In-Reply-To:" value 
set to something entirely inappropriate.

> 
> One convention which is useful though slightly time consuming is for
> someone to post a summary of a long running thread and to use this
> as a datum point for further discussion. Alternatively, ask for replies
> OFF-LIST and volunteer to post a summary where replies are likely to be
> long-running or unduly contentions.
> 
> 
>>And finally - do we prefer top or bottom posting? That question normally 
>>raises the temperature a bit...
>>
> 
> A. Yes
> 
>>
>>Martin Wheeler wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 7 Dec 2004, Alistair Parsons wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>sorry meant to send this just to tim
>>>
> 
> Q. Are you sure?
> 
>>><religious rant>
>>>That's because there *was* a majority opinion of list-folk at one time 
>>>who insisted that the "sensible" [note the prophylaxis of the lift-out] 
>>>way to set up the list was to remove the default 'Reply to Poster' and 
>>>make it the highly dangerous and objectionable 'Reply to List' instead.
>>>
> 
> 
> A. Because it interrupts the natural flow of the material and replies.
> 
> 
>>>I *told* you all it would end in tears.
>>>
>>>Don't you just hate the mentality fostered in gullible minds by being 
>>>brought up on trash Yahoo! lists, and thinking for evermore that their 
>>>way of running a list is a world standard for everyone?  And as for 
>>>those who can't suss out how to set their mail-agent to do what they 
>>>want it to ...
> 
> 
> If you want to reply to list - use the appropriate key strokes / button
> pushes.  The Debian mailing lists (which are high traffic) operate a
> policy that postings should normally go to the list but that replies 
> should also go to the list and not the correspondent. It should be
> assumed that everyone reads a list to which people have to subscribe (in
> that case) and that they're too busy to want superfluous personal
> copies. Were we ever to go subscriber only - as has been suggested
> numerous times in the discussions over spam problems - that would be
> most appropriate here.
> 
> 
>>></religious rant>
>>>
>>>There now; I feel much better now.
>>
> 
> Q Why is top posting considered harmful?
> 
> Andy
> 
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