Hello, I'm finding that I sometimes receive email on a thread that is also posted to a mailing list or newsgroup. It could be a thread I started, or joined afterward.
The problem is that there is no information on the headers that the email is also posted to the forum. So my reply is not copied to the forum. The thread is broken, and that defeats the purpose of the forum. Because this is happening alot lately I think it might be the default behaviour of certain mailing programs (maybe the only behaviour?). I don't have any suspect programs in mind, but I know that netscape doesn't do this by default. Anyone else finding this? Would it be OK to clarify whether this is proper etiquette in the mailing list welcome, and maybe the way to avoid this behaviour with some of the more common programs? For mailing lists in particular, the person you may be mailing is in all likelihood on the list. So if you just email to the list, everyone will see it, including the person you want to email. And the recipient only gets it once -- this is a very good thing. Everyone sees the problem and the solution. The benefit from the respondent's efforts in composing a concise reply is amplified, and the those those who might have put up with the problem indefinitely get a solution. The original poster also has a chance to get responses from people besides a single person. This is the etiquette in newsgroups, but it's not as visibly conveyed in all mailing lists. The culture of some mailing lists may be more relaxed, but the pro's of the etiquette (and its awareness) are still valid. There is another reason why this is the etiquette in newgroups. Participants may engage in discussions as they see fit, and opt out (temporarily or otherwise, for whatever reason) as they wish. Since the discussion is in the open, there is nothing personal about a lack of response. On the contrary, the discussion is more likely to take place simply because it doesn't rely on a single person's response. Fred P.S. For completeness, I should add that the feeling I get from the newsgroups is as follows. How much it applies here depends on the participants, but it doesn't hurt to look at the rationale for these (initially) inconvenient "rules". If you are asking for information, it is appreciated if you keep the thread in the forum. If you are responding with information, you may decide to email the individual and/or the newsgroup. If the respondent takes the thread off the group by emailing the original poster, it becomes a private conversation. Where appropriate, it is courteous for the original poster to summarize any information for the benefit of the group. If someone responds to a public thread on the forum AND emails the original poster, it only makes sense for the respondent to state clearly that the group is being copied so that any replies don't end up just going to the respondent. P.P.S. What determines whether a forum takes the shape of a newsgroup versus a mailing list? Does it take more work and resources to set up a newsgroup? A newsgroup seems like a more efficient way to organize and access discussions. P.P.P.S. Another very valid point about many technical newgroups is that you get immediate feedback if you start a thread without checking FAQ, doing a google search, and/or searching the documentation (at least at a cursory level, depending on the complexity). This feedback may take the form of a polite reminder, but not always. -- Fred Ma, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Carleton University, Dept. of Electronics 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1S 5B6 _______________________________________________ VNC-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list
