On 2007-05-19, Roberto C Sánchez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Sat, May 19, 2007 at 05:51:51PM -0400, Amy Templeton wrote: >>=20 >> If somebody's current provider provides only >> POP, should they be forced to switch to another provider just for >> the privilege of being on this list? >>=20 > > IMAP is better by many measures. However, if you do not require access > to your mail from multiple computers or multiple mail clients, then POP > is perfectly fine.
I think you missed Amy's point. It's great that there are technical solutions to the OT problem. However, if we take that as license to continue posting messages that are far, far removed from the world of Debian, we are going to lose two very important groups of users. First, we lose the new users who don't yet know about these options. If it looks like it's going to be a lot of work to sift through a mailing list for info, we'll discourage all but the most persistent souls from joining the community. This is not a good way to foster long-term sustainability of the Debian project. The second group we are losing are those very knowledgeable people who just can't be bothered to set up a killfile for this list. They are busy people, it would be wise for us to make it easy for them to help us out. They know very well how to filter out messages, but they don't *have* to. They can just find another venue that requires less tedious administration. Balanced against losing these two important groups of people, the loss of one of thousands of venues for political/religious/philosophical rants seems like a very small price to pay. This is, as someone pointed out, part of usenet, and censorship, banning, moderation, or imposing subscription requirements are to greater or lesser degree contrary to the purpose of these lists. However, it is in the best interests of all of us to show a little restraint when it comes to posting things that clearly have nothing to do with Debian. Yes, there will always be edge cases to argue about, whether that be hardware, programming, Free Software advocacy or whatever. But clearly, there is no reason for the extended threads on US politics, terrorism etc. to appear on this list. A little consideration would make this a better resource for all of us. It was very eye-opening to see the gentoo list archives. There's a lot of good info there, and it reflects well on the whole gentoo community. Like it or not, all the rants that show up on debian-user do not reflect well on us. All things considered, I can find other venues for my rants and ramblings if that helps improve the quality of support offered by this list. Ultimately noone can impose a code of conduct on anyone else, but please give a little thought to the idea that your entertainment is diminishing the pleasure of others, others who may, now or in future, be able to help you out. Tyler -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
