On 20100319_091756, Stephen Powell wrote: > Historically, debian-user, and all of the Debian mailing lists, > have had a rule that you post and reply only to the list, and that > you do not CC anybody unless they explicitly request a CC. I have > been following that rule. However ... > > Recently, someone posted something to the list and CCed me. > Since I am subscribed to the list, I get a private e-mail for > each posting to the list. If a poster also CCs me, I have been used > to getting two copies: one directly (via the CC) and one indirectly > (via the list server). But on this occasion, I got only one copy. > > That makes me wonder if the list server has been "smartened up" > recently. Perhaps a list subscriber is no longer sent a copy of > a posting if his e-mail address is explicitly listed in the TO, > CC, or BCC fields. Is that the case? If so, I wonder why that > change was not made long ago. It would eliminate a lot of problems. > We could CC the poster without fear that he will get two copies > and thus complain. > > Does this mean that it is OK to CC people now, without a CC > being requested? Or do many people read the list via the web > interface to the mailing list archives without being subscribed > and will still get annoyed if they are CCed? I need some > guidance here. There have been a number of times that I have > not CCed people because they didn't explicitly ask for it, > but because they thought their problem was now solved, they > were not looking at the list anymore and therefore didn't see > my follow-up post offering a correction to an earlier mistake, > etc. > > I don't want people to miss posts because they aren't looking. > But neither do I want to annoy people.
Steve: I think users like me can easily subscribe or can easily request a CC. The present rule is simple and easily understood. It saves help givers, who must generate many more emails, from having to explicitely say 'no CC' in almost every email. Why burden them with that trivial annoyance? We users should want to make giving help fun, I hope. I think a 'no CC' message in a signature block looks unfriendly, even stupid. Like the legal notices about not reading wrongly delivered email. I would not want to create an environment in which any help giver felt an urgent need to do such. As a matter of fact, the current rule is helpful to me in assessing the advice that I get. If I get a CC, I think this guy isn't a real DD --- I wonder if he knows what he's talking about. But if I violate the rules of list etiquette, I prefer to receive an email addressed directly to me rather than to be publicly shamed on the list. -- Paul E Condon pecon...@mesanetworks.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20100319185213.gg7...@big.lan.gnu
