Mailing-list Gudelines. Yes or No

[Todd Zullinger]

Hi Frank,

Frank Murphy wrote:
> But like any organisation public\private wahtever, some guidelines
> are necessary otherwise nothing gets done. In this case
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
[...]
> You are possible going to lose a number of seasoned user
> troubleshooters, if mailing list guidelines continue to be pushed
> back in peoples faces, for attempting to do the correct thing.

I am not very fond of replying to any message just to point out that
the list guidelines are not being followed.  I tend to either ignore
the message entirely or reply with some amount of help for the
original poster and add a note that the list guidelines should be
followed.  Truly egregious violations of the guidelines should be
taken up with the list administrators directly to avoid cluttering the
list, IMO.

> Maybe once and for all decide does the list need guidelines, Yes or
> No?

As you said at the start of your message, some guidelines are
necessary in any group.  I agree with that.  The guidelines allow us
to have some common expectations for the list.  Without some basic
guidelines and norms, the list would likely turn into a mish-mash of
off-topic and/or terribly formatted gibberish.  I have no doubt that
if, for example, everone began posting to the list in HTML, top
posted, didn't trim their quotes, and hijacked threads, we would lose
far more valuable list contributors that we will by having some
reasonable guidelines.

So I think the answer to your question is a very resounding "Yes, the
list guidelines are needed."

Whether the guidelines need to be adjusted or whether they are being
"enforced" improperly (either too strictly or not strictly enough) is
a separate question.  It's also a question that should be taken up
directly with the list administrators and not on the list, IMO.
Having a potentially never-ending thread debating all of the list
guidelines is not something I'd look forward to in my fedora-list
mailbox. :)

-- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The distinction between Freedom and Liberty is not accurately known;
naturalists have been unable to find a living specimen of either.
    -- Ambrose Bierce

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