Mailing-list Gudelines. Yes or No

[Tim]

On Sat, 2008-09-13 at 10:47 +0100, Frank Murphy wrote:
> 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.
> 
> 
> Maybe once and for all decide does the list need guidelines, Yes or No?

Guidelines are needed, else it becomes complete anarchy.  The list is
managed by those who use it as well as those who maintain it.  Running
to mummy to snitch that user so-and-so is top posting and would mummy
please do something about it is a really bad way to manage things.  The
admin gets a deluge of complaints from one or two people about
everything under the sun, and the rest of the list become passive
victims just having to put up with it because they're told not to do
anything about it.

I'll also point out that non-compliers are going to get the same set of
instructions from an admin as they'd get from users (don't top post,
trim quotes, read these guidelines, it'll only get fixed once it's
entered into bugzilla, etc.), so there's little point in trying to
advocate that someone in particular handles these matters.  In general,
you get a short reply about what was wrong, and what to do.  Rarely do
you see a non-compliant newcomer get told to go forth and multiply,
unless they insist on being a continual nuisance.

On the whole, Linux requires learning, you won't get it handed to you on
a plate.  If newcomers are not prepared to learn, they're going to get
nowhere.  If they're going to dig their heals in and insist on being
disruptive, they're only hurting themselves.  Asking for help from a
community involves becoming a part of it, not barging in and disrupting
it, especially when you consider that the helpers are doing out of the
kindness of their heart, not because they're paid to do it (very few
list participants would be).  My patience wears thin with people who are
continually painful, and I'm not the only one who feels that way.  It's
not hard to fit in

I'm an ex-BBS-SysOp, believe me that the way things are run on here are
best as they currently are.  I think that we'd only lose, by insisting
that participants play the game, would be those that we would be better
off to lose.  Yes, there are some people that we're better off without,
it's a fact of life.  It's their own choice to fit in, or find somewhere
else that they fit in.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686

Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.  I
read messages from the public lists.