basic list mail content: FC1 or FC2

[M. Fioretti]

On Wed, May 19, 2004 03:37:21 AM -0400, Joe(theWordy)Philbrook
(jtwdyp at ttlc.net) wrote:
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> It would appear that on May 18, M. Fioretti did say:
> 
> > On Tue, May 18, 2004 09:09:54 AM -0600, Eric Diamond
> > (eric at ediamond.net) wrote:
> > > A new FC2 list would force many fedora-list denizens to choose where
> > > they can most constructively make use of their time. This would not
> > > be good for the fedora community.
> > 
> > My goodness. Think of all those people who would still like to
> > help FC1 users but, having upgraded to FC2, are now forbidden by
> > law to do so. Would it really be *so* different by having only one
> > list, with *more* traffic, and most FC2 users skipping like crazy
> > FC1 messages, because they haven't time/interest/possibility to
> > replicate bugs?
> 
> But since this is a USER list, not a bug report, who says one *has*
> to replicate the reported problem to lend a little knowledge to a user
> with less expertise than your self?

I specified that I personally don't really care if there are one or
more list, so I have no problem to agree with you here. With the
exception that dialup users have the right to download (= pay!!!) as
little as possible, hence split list would be better for them.

[snip] 
 
> While I for one don't like "in subject" tags '[FCx]', at the
> *beginning* of the subject line, It would be nice if most users
> could be convinced to do something consistent that would help those
> who must, filter out the ones relating to the cores they don't have
> any interest in.

This would indeed be wonderful, but is an entirely different
problem. It has *nothing* to do with how many lists there are. The
*only* way to make this happen is to NEVER answer any message which
doesn't have a very clear subject, deals with only one issue, doesn't
hijack threads.

The real mess, and the greatest waste of time and money on all mailing
list is not spam, "in subject tags" or lack thereof. Spam can be
filtered automatically. Is when one newbie innocently forgets to post
properly, and TEN/TWENTY "experts" do waste time and bandwidth
replying to that foggy subject (whose entire thread many rigthly
delete without reading). It is *these* "experts" who mess it up,
hiding information, both in our mailboxes and in online archives.

You enforce subject tags, release-specific lists, whatever. Then
newbie comes, posting "[FC2]: help". The only reaction should be
"please post again with a CLEAR subject". People answer, instead,
*hiding* the problem, and its solution, inside that dumb subject.

The funniest part is when you post the same question the next day,
with a real subject, and the same "netiquette experts" dare to scold
you because "you didn't pay attention, this was discussed just
yesterday, don't make useless traffic".

How do you fix this through number of lists, or subject tags?

Ciao,
	Marco F.
 
-- 
Marco Fioretti                 m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it
Red Hat for low memory         http://www.rule-project.org/en/

Be the change you want to see in the world - Gandhi