On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 19:51:49 +0530 (IST) Philip S Tellis wrote: > looking at posts from the last few days, it seems that there is no more > quality left in this list. [snip]
IMHO the reason for the list going to the dogs is that there are a lot many first-timers seeking help from the LUG, and this may be the first ML that they join. This is a heartening indicator of Linux getting acceptance into the so-called mainstream. I've heard of a few mailing lists where the subscribers themselves need to reply to their first post before it gets distributed. If it is possible to do something like this for ILUG-Bom, an automated response can be sent by the mailer for the very first post of a new subscriber, and the first post may not be distributed. The automated response would remind the poster of the guidelines and have pointers to RFC 1855 etc. If the OP still thinks that his query is appropriate, he may post it again, this time without any policing from the mailer. I hope this would catch a lot of newbies looking for urgent help on Linux 8.0 that they might have got from a long lost friend (btw, RHL 9 is due out 2003-04 to make matters worse :p). Perhaps, sending the guidelines at the time of subscription should then be discontinued because often subscribers hang on for a while to observe the activity and by the time they come around to posting something, the mail containing the guidelines has long been deleted. Getting a little more strict, the ML software can reject and send an autoresponse to mails that don't contain any subject or contain taboo words like "urgent" or "help" (without 3 other words or so). But I guess this option might have been explored before. Note: These suggestions should not be taken as advocacy against freedom of speech. -- Tahir Hashmi http://staff.ncst.ernet.in/tahir Compact XML Alternative - http://xqueeze.sf.net -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
