Re: Q: List Policy
Steve Lamb (2008-11-22 17:59 -0800) wrote:
> None of the situations you cited are compelling enough to warrant the
> complete duplication of every message the list server sends out. Not a
> one.
That's good because my point was and is elsewhere. I'm not trying to
compel anybody about certain mailing-list policy. I have experience from
many different lists and communities (perhaps you have too). It's a fact
that different communities have different ways of maintaining lists,
different conventions, policies etc. They have their own reasons for
communicating the way they do.
That's exactly why I'm _not_ trying to push any agenda to others. I'm
trying to show that there are different ones and different ways of
seeing things. I have seen many discussions and flame wars about the
subject. It's usually about using the "correct" clients and
configuration, mailing list configuration, Reply-To and Mail-Followup-To
usage etc. So far nobody has managed to convince everybody that their
system is the best one. Hence my point: there is no perfect universally
agreed policy and we just have to live with it.
So I'm suggesting that you don't go telling Linux kernel developers how
they should organize and manage their communication (or Git, Emacs and
Bazaar developers who have exactly the same conventions). They are not
stupid because they have different preferences for communication. I also
suggest that if you interact with those communities you adapt to their
social norms because usually this way the communication works best. I'm
referring to your previous message in which you wrote:
> To be blunt, if those people can't figure out how to filter on
> In-Reply-To they have no business hacking the kernel.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.user/339607/focus=339609
A related suggestion is that it is quite pointless to present arguments
in terms of "if you used this client and had this feature" because there
is a zoo of different ways of receiving and reading mail and in general
pretty much only "Reply" and "Reply to all" buttons work reliably. With
these limitations the large body of people tend to use the means which
are the most convenient and least painful for _them_.
And let me emphasize that I'm not saying how things should be on Debian
lists. I'm just talking about the email-using world in general.
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