Taming the mailing lists?

[Rodolfo J. Paiz]

At 23:33 4/29/2004, you wrote:
> > 1) Add a mailing list tag to the subject [FC],
><snip>
> > This little change will help new arrivals and if short will pose no
> > pain on others.

Not true. It's been discussed for *years*, and every time the conclusion is 
that the headers provide guidance as to which list is which, and that users 
can/should filter and file using whatever mechanism they please, but that 
the subject tags are not the panacea they look like. In short, they're not 
in use because they're not useful. They *look* useful, but every smaller 
list on which I participate has eventually removed them as being more pain 
than gain.

> > An introductory file while a necessary  first step is often
> > not saved.  It would be useful to send this message then 12 hours
> > later activate the list so the "welcome" is not lost in the flood.

Why, oh why, oh why would you think that a 12-hour delay is a good thing? 
It's going to frustrate the hell out of people who want help RFN, and it's 
going to be annoying as hell, and let's face it: the ones who need those 12 
hours to let a single URL sink in are the ones who don't give a damn and 
won't read it anyway. Forgive the bluntness, but that right there is WIDOM: 
Worst Idea Of Month [tm].

> > 5) The single most common new user problem is how to stay current and
> > setup yum/up2date to use a mirror.  Please design a way to fix the
> > default yum and up2date actions to help people configure their config
> > files better!

Fixed for FC2 already.

> > 7) Consider renaming the list "FCB Fedora Core Beginner".  This can
> > set expectations for readers and posters.  There may be some demand
> > for a "FCW Fedora Core Wizard" list as a result but the wizard know
> > who is who and help each other.

What you would achieve is to destroy the community, nothing less than that. 
If all the experts went off to their own list, who would help the newbies? 
And if no one taught the newbies netiquette, would they teach themselves? 
No... civilization as we know it would fall. This is fedora-list, for *all* 
users of stable Fedora Core releases. Netiquette will be taught and 
enforced as the community wishes, and everyone is welcome.

Beginner lists don't work, since beginners want to talk to experts. So they 
join the expert list, and now you have two lists with everyone in them. 
Just won't work.

Cheers,


-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz at simpaticus.com
http://www.simpaticus.com