Subject: jjliu's posting On 24 Sep 2003 07:28:36 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I attempted to respond to this posting by send a reply directly to the poster > rather than to the entire list. The e-mail was blocked by the poster's > service. - It depends on the question, but I would guess that there are at least as many responses made in private, when there is a real name. Most of those aren't sent when the address is bunged or blocked, so that does cause people to miss responses, > Anyone posting to the list should be sure that it is possible to contact them > directly rather than having to post to the entire list. It seems to me that > replies should not be sent to the entire list but rather to the poster. The > poster than should be able to summarize the responses and advise the list. I remember "collect the responses and post" was a standard that was occasionally respected, on some group, many years ago. For my preferences, it certainly would not be good for these Usenet stat-groups, today. I know that *I* want to read what everyone else posts on the question -- to learn from it, to question the *answer*, or whatever. You post this in response to "jjliu's posting" -- that post was practically unique for our groups, in getting 4 quick responses. Given the nature of the question, I think it was probably *helpful* that there was that public redundancy. It was not just a single postal reply, sent by e-mail, saying "You have this all wrong." And we all could see what had been posted, after it was, and decide whether more could be built on that foundation. More common, I think, is where no one writes a fast answer, and then I write something -- or Don does, or one of the other regulars -- where we may have to guess at what the question might mean. Then someone else helps out because it is less awkward when you don't have to make the first guess. Our answers are > I > get many (possibly too many) repeat postings, often listing three or four > responses to a posting. I would, to help me in terms of time, like to see the > poster receive responses directly and then have that person post a single, > summarized list of the responses. [ ... ] - and that is a tough sort of thing to ask, from someone who is new to a topic. Back in the days when I read some summaries, I think that the best ones were summaries that were written by one of the *experts*, reviewing all those things that had been posted. Also, in recent years, when *I* send something directly to the person, it is probably because I *didn't* want to go public. For whatever reason. It is also a rule of Usenet etiquette, that you don't air the contents of private mail without permission, generally speaking. -- Rich Ulrich, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
