Alan Lord wrote:
Harold Fuchs wrote:
<snip />
Don't you get the same 100+ messages per day in your News "folder"?
Which in some news readers (Thunderbird, for example) you can't
delete. And to which you can't "properly" reply because you can't
tell if the OP is subscribed or not and therefore whether or not s/he
will see your words of wisdom?
Or is this yet another SIGTWEO (Stick I've Got The Wrong End Of)?
You are right that the hypothetical 100 do appear in your news folder
(but only the header until you open them) and it just doesn't feel like
a mailbox to me... Quite often I'll just "mark all read" if it looks
like inconsequential stuff and then at a convenient time, follow up just
on the interesting threads. (FWIW - I use TB as my newsreader)
I have all my OO stuff put into a separate e-mail account (I use a
different e-mail address & server for OO than for normal stuff).
I only see the headers in the Inbox. That's because I turn off the
Preview Pane; the Preview Pane is highly insecure anyway, so turning it
off is always a good idea.
I can "mark all read" if I feel like it or only reply when I'm sure(ish)
of my ground.
I was not aware of the subscribed/not subscribed issue - as far as I am
concerned, if someone posts a question or statement to a mailing list
then that is where the response should go. I'd never usually reply to
the poster directly unless I knew them well or had something
"off-topic" to say (perhaps). Also, the original poster may well be
viewing/contributing to the the mailist via gmane (as I am now).
I use TB and I have it configured to highlight in red the headers of
messages from unsubscribed users. One of the quirks of this mail list is
that you don't have to subscribe to send messages. However, if you don't
and the responder *only* replies to the list then you don't get to see
that reply. For an unsubscribed user to see a reply, that user's address
must be explicitly included in the response, either as an additional
To:, or as a Cc: [or, I suppose, as a Bcc:]. I have yet to find a way
accurately to identify messages from unsubscribed users when I read the
messages with a News reader.
So no, I don't think you got the stick incorrectly positioned. In fact
that was an concept of mailing list use I had never considered before:
post, and then run away ;-)
My argument is that a newbie who wants to ask a simple question
shouldn't be exposed to the 100+ messages per day that subscribing would
generate. That's why I'm pro the idea (a) that a user should be able to
send questions without having to subscribe and (b) that it's my
responsibility as a *volunteer* to try to ensure that the user gets
his/her answer without having to subscribe. Apart from anything else, if
the user doesn't see my reply then I've wasted my time answering.
<snip>
--
Harold Fuchs
London, England
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