On Fri, 11 Jul 2003, Randy Kramer wrote:
> have responded to a few questions -- I made the (bad) assumption that
> responding to the list got the answer back to the questioner.
No :(
Saying that they should subscribe doesn't help, either. Most of them are
not able to read/comply with instructions like "send us you log file, here
is the full path: xxx"...
> "Respond to the list and to the "questioner" (better word?) -- this is an open
> list and many questioners are not subscribed." (Or something like that --
> the shorter, while still being clear to less experienced mail list users, the
> better.)
My preference would be if people got an explanatory letter the first time
they wrote to the list telling:
0) that s/h/it is not a customer (in a different wording, of course)
1) that it is a mailing list (and what a mailing list is, perhaps)
2) that there are archives, so the question may already have been
answered (with a URL to such an archive)
3) that the answer come to the list but "there is no guarantee that it
will also be sent to you" (i.e. the one sending the email to the list)
4) you can subscribe and unsubscribe easily.
Most of these could/should have URLs leading to more comple/wordy
explanations.
I realize that such a letter would require some fancy scripting to get
right (and I am not volunteering) :(
Much of the problem can be avoid by other means, for example by having the
X server print a version-specific URL instead of an email address when it
crashes or is misconfigured. That page should have a FAQ for the most
common problems and a link to the mailman interface for the mailing list.
It should NOT list the email address directly -- people would just use
that without thinking.
Another thing is that the footer with the link to the mailman interface
really ought to mention the word unsubscribe.
-Peter
Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day;
Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish
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