Overview of my post:
I have read the thread through now and I will try to respond in one post
to save bandwidth, but I make no promises. I will say that now that I am
thoroughly upset that I have to explain this again. Marco, who is very
found of the archives, seems to ignore all of the responses he receives
every time he brings this up. I will re-explain myself below.
However, I will make a statement now. Until CPH or another high ranking
list moderator (I am moderator, but I am not high-ranking) tells me to
stop, I have no plans to stop because my method engenders good customer
service and achieves more positive goals than any suggested alternative.
I will admit that I don't remember Marco's idea and I can't view the
archives at the moment, but I remember not liking it last time he
brought it up.
M. Fioretti wrote:
On Sat, Jul 23, 2005 12:21:04 PM -0500, Peter Kupfer OOo
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
As you are not subscribed, you may have missed this post.
Peter (and all the others who lately have re-sent messages for the
same reason, that's why I'm posting here),
as we *are* duly subscribed, we had *not* missed that post, and the
three others you re-sent in short sequence. I understand that, due to
the amount of traffic here, casual visitors may not subscribe, just
shot questions (**), and I also thank all you volunteers for your
work, but please don't make traffic even higher.
1) You are making list traffic high with a post that, if you look back
in the archives, is not going to change my actions. I told you then, as
I am now, that I am not going to change until a moderator or the CC
tells me I am not to do this.
2) Posting a second time to notify the list this has happened is a
better method than others for several reasons that have been elaborated
on in this thread, but I will attempt to summarize now. (Please read all
sub points before responding.)
a) Just ccing the OP without telling the list is inconvenient for the
OP. The OP shouldn't have to get 10 messages with the same answer. This
is not going to engender a like of our product. (see below)
b) Only posting to the list and not giving a rat's behind about the OP
who is unsubscribed is not good customer service. Many people, I was one
of these people, don't get that this is a mailing list. Many "newbies"
think we are customer support department of a big corporation and that
they are e-mail tech support. Those people deserve an answer.
When I first joined, someone took the time to e-mail me an answer and on
other lists I have gotten answers from people. I would imagine most of
had someone help us the first time and that is why we stuck around. I
feel an obligation to make sure that every user gets the same amount of
help that I received.
If we help that new user and they are pleased they may subscribe and
become a productive member of our community. Perhaps that is the liberal
in me that wants to help every one. If I was more conservative I suppose
I would say screw the OP who doesn't realize this is a mailing list and
they can figure out how to find the answer on their own.
Maybe that person won't join or contribute something, but maybe they
will tell a friend and then we have two more people using OOo and that
is a good thing. Maybe that person owns a huge law firm and they decide
that is a good product and decide to replace MSO on all 300 of their
computers with OOo. That is a good thing. If it means that even one
other person will find the joy and beauty of OOo and OSS, then I don't
care if you or any other subscribed user has to hit delete 30 times, it
is worth it.
3) When I respond to a questions from an unsubscribed user, I cc them
then so that this is not a problem. If we all did this, this wouldn't be
an issue. Fundamentally, it seems the difference in our two camps is
that I am willing to do a little work for the OP and deal having to
delete and extra 10 messages to make that person's life better and you
are not.
4) I don't resend every response. If a response is not useful for the
question, I don't resend that. I want you to imagine for a second that
you are new and confused. You have a question about this new interesting
software you downloaded and you send it to a list and never get a
response. So now, you can software and you can't get paste a simple
error. Do you feel like sticking with this software whose customer
service department just ignores you? I don't think so.
5) I find things annoying too, like people posting once a week, "When is
v2 coming out?" I don't write to them and say, "No one knows so stop
asking." I try to give them a decent answer, because I believe in
customer service.
(**) To tell the truth no, I still don't understand why non
subscribers are allowed to post to this address, and I've said it
several times, but until this doesn't change OK, let's cope with it in
the least intrusive way...
Because, believe or not, people don't HAVE to use OpenOffice.org. One of
the beauties of OOo is that we have lists full of helpful smart people
who go the extra mile. From what I hear other lists aren't as nice. I
know I have been unimpressed with some of the Mozilla lists. I do like
the Debian users list. Whether you like it or not, you are part of OOo's
customer service.
Furthermore, least intrusive for you is not least intrusive for new
users, and that is where I place my focus.
In the end, I think that you and those people that agree with you have 4
choices.
1) Do nothing and keep complaining about this every couple of months.
2) Unsubscribed -- Clearly I don't advocate this as I think everyone
here has something to offer and I would love for us to a be a community,
but it is an option.
3) Kill list me -- Doesn't really change anything, but you won't know I
am doing this.
4) Be part of the solution. The best way to stop this is for all of us
to cc unsubscribed users. I have instructions for that posted here:
<http://openoffice.peschtra.com/tips/ooott_web_unsubscribed.html>.
Nothing personal, I just disagree.
--
Peter Kupfer -- Using OOo since 'OO4 -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Want to help? http://www.oooauthors.org
For OOo tips: http://openoffice.peschtra.com/ooo_tips_tricks.html
To order OOo: http://openoffice.peschtra.com/distro/ooo_distro.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
