Taming the mailing lists?

[Jeff Vian]

Clifford Snow wrote:

>On Wed, 2004-04-28 at 10:00, Elliot Lee wrote:
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>>If you feel that the Fedora mailing lists are becoming a little
>>unmanageable or are not as valuable as they could be, would you take the
>>time to e-mail me with your thoughts on the problem? (private e-mail is
>>fine) If you think that there's no problem at all, hearing that opinion 
>>would be useful too!
>>    
>>
>
>I'm glad you asked.  I was on the list when the daily postings were so
>numerous that just getting through the subjects was a real chore.  I
>expect when FC2 is release that we see another surge.  I believe that
>implementing the following could help reduce the volume and provide
>better user satisfaction.  Hopefully these suggestions would be easy to
>implement.
>
>1.  Add a FAQ link to the sign up page and or the welcoming message. 
>Ideally this FAQ is community supported.  Wiki?  There are even a couple
>of good Fedora FAQ sites already in existence that could be linked.  
>
>2. Also on the sign up screen or the welcoming message, provide some
>posting etiquette guidelines.  Just a short list.  There are just too
>many flames about posting etiquette.  Make it easy for newbies to get
>information.  They'll figure it out in time.  
>
>3.  At the bottom of each post add the faq link. 
>
>Thanks for asking,
>
This is the most succinct and precise list of suggestions I have seen.

Reminders of 1) netiquette,  2) information sources, and 3) topics. 
 Included in the welcome mail and on each message footer would be good.
Also provide easier access to references from the web page.  Read that 
as "more links", or a link to a resources list page. We know it would 
not be all encompassing, but it would be a starting point.

In 30 days I have seen references to over 100 good-to-know sites, but 
since they are not in a single page that is easily locatable they 
quickly get lost in the jumble.  Some method to collect/present these 
resources in a user frienly form would help all on the list; both as 
relates to mail volume, and as a resource center for themselves.


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