NoOp wrote:
On 10/20/2009 12:29 PM, Robert Derman wrote:
Mike Scott wrote:
Michael Adams wrote:
On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:16:35 +0100
Came this utterance formulated by Mike Scott to my mailbox:
Consider the following typical scenario:-
1. unsubscribed poster mails the list
2. all on the list colour that in brilliant scarlet so they know to cc
the OP because he's unsubscribed
3. a 'regular' responds
4. that message hits the list
5. someone else improves on that response. But the chances are the
OP won't see this, because the reply from (3) isn't coloured(*), so
the latest reply(5) isn't cc'd to anyone, including the unsubscribed
OP.
6. Now you have a branch of the thread where the OP's address
doesn't even appear on the emails.....
Kind of defeats the object, it seems to me.
I can see making it very easy for new users to reach the Users list, but
Of course life should be easy for newbies. But allowing unsubscribed
users to reach 'users' proper may not be the best way of doing this.
NoOp makes valid points.
As I've suggested before, it shouldn't be too hard to screen
unsubscribed submissions and return a likely answer automatically, plus
an explanation of the benefits of subscription.
(And as I write that, it occurs to me that in the minds of Jo Public,
it's entirely possible that "subscribe" => "pay". Maybe we need to watch
the terminology???!)
I think that the Discuss list with it's different purpose should be for
subscribed posters only.
+1
Right...
http://www.openoffice.org/mail_list.html
Now which newbie is going to read, much less understand all that? He's
after a quick answer to a pressing question. Even I find that page
daunting :-)
....
I suspect that several other regular contributors to the users list are
doing the same. It's simply not worth the effort. Further, once you do
respond it's often the case that the recipient: 1) keeps nagging you for
information directly, 2) becomes overwhelmed with responses (good and
bad) and gets pissed off because they have no clue what a mailing list
Good point. They may well equate it to a phone support service -
one-to-one rather than many-to-many.
is, or 3) subscribes, becomes overwhelmed with list emails and, again
gets pissed off when they can't unsubscribe.
Which isn't helped by (1) the unsubscription message being missing from
the foot of many posts (at least on 'users'), (2) an apparent singular
inability of many to read it when it does appear (likewise to
read/understand/keep the 'welcome' message when they did subscribe), and
(3) an expectation by some that the servers will be omniscient, and to
know that an unsubscription request from f...@here should really remove
fre...@there. A weekly 'how do I unsubscribe/what is this mail list
thingy anyway' message wouldn't add a lot to the noise level over there!
Allowing unsubscribed (purposely subscribed) users to post on the users
list (and this list) is simply stupid. My guess is that it drives away
more potential users than it helps/keeps.
It causes a /HUGE/ repetition of trivial material over on 'users'. A
total and utter waste of resources; worse, making it difficult to find
those issues that really do need serious attention.
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