Re: Wishing for an off-topic mail list with debian-user participants (or most of them) (was: Re: On improving mailing list [was: How to Boot Linux ISO Images Directly From Your Hard Drive Debian])
On Wed 18 Aug 2021 at 14:27:13 +0200, deloptes wrote:
> Jonathan Dowland wrote:
>
> > I think the way forward this time would be to request one on the
> > official Debian mailing list server, rather than elsewhere. But,
> > such a list will only serve its purpose if it gets used *instead*
> > of off-topic conversations on this list. Does anyone think that
> > d-community-offtopic served that purpose? My general feeling is
> > things are worse now than they were when d-community-offtopic was
> > around and active, but I'm not sure that this is causation.
>
> I do not think it will work, because it is against the logic how
> communication work. We communicate in the same channel and go off topic and
> then back to topic. It is not natural to change list because something goes
> off topic.
A decent argument. Put with the observation that off-topic in
a -user thread can rapidly escalate, the idea of a separate
"sin-bin" list is a non-starter. Also, it did not work in the
past.
> I am also sorry for triggering some of the off topic here, but I am getting
> annoyed from time to time by peoples attitude as well. There are
> some "morally superior" users that try to impose their views. However I
> prefer to stop as soon as possible to reduce the damage.
> I hope this list stays as is and people just learn to respect each other
> (and "plonk" as little as possible).
I hope so too. There is nothing wrong with some degree of social
inreraction on the list; it might be said to grease the wheels.
But think of the user who submits a technical query and those who
attempt to address it. Would an influx of posts on AA batteries,
300 baud modems and short-term memory be seen as being respectful
to *those* users?
I am not suggesting that a touch of off-topic should necessarily
be seen as disrespectful, but as a present campaign in the UK has
it - Whem the Fun Stops Stop.
Perhaps, in the final analysis, it doesn't matter. The good ship
debian-user will continue to naviagte the choppy seas of Community
assistance and support for Debian users.
--
Brian.
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