Re: FAQ on debian newcomer list

Richard Hector wrote:

On Wed, 2006-01-11 at 00:49 -0500, kamaraju kusumanchi wrote:


I would appreciate any feedback/corrections/suggestions etc., (however trivial you think they are) on the following FAQ on debian-user. The final corrected version will be uploaded to http://people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/du-guidelines.html . I am posting the initial version for your kind consideration.



I'm a little late on this, but ...


Thanks for your input.

Point 8: 'Keep the posts on the list' could possibly note some
exceptions to this rule. Knowing the author personally is one, though
not necessarily relevant; the reply could still be relevant to the list.


Very true. Thanks for pointing it out.

Another that springs to mind is leaving the topic, for example enquiring
about something mentioned in passing, perhaps even in the poster's .sig,
which may be totally unrelated to debian, let alone the thread.


I have reedited it as follows. Any further comments are welcome.


Keep the posts on the list.

Rationale:- When you hit reply in your email-client, the message might be directed to the original author instead of the list. Please avoid this. There are many reasons why the replies should be on the list than to a person.

1. When a message is sent to the previous email's author instead of
the list, the message is not archived. So people reading archives
will not benefit from the past discussions.

2. When a message is sent to the previous email's author instead of
the list, only two persons will know about it. But when you reply
to the list instead, thousands (If not millions) will read that
message and would be able to offer further help.

3. Many people resent personal replies, or CC:'d replies, for a
number of reasons. Personal replies may be filtered out by
aggressive anti-spam measures, while mail from the list is
whitelisted.

4. Explain other reasons.


There are some situations when a personal reply (instead of posting to the entire list) is appropriate. For example "inquiring about the previous poster's .sig" could be totally unrelated to Debian. You can probably send a personal reply to the respective author in that case.

The rule of thumb is "If your reply would be useful for other debian users or Debian in general", Post the reply to the list.

If you are in doubt, Post the reply to the list.

having private posts go to the
list is worse than having public ones go off it.



The line between private posts and personal posts is very hazy. For example, after solving his problem, if the OP wants to thank all the authors who replies to his query, should he send personal replies to them or should he post it to the list (assuming there are only handful who replied to his query)?

thanks
raju

--
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/


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