[H-GEN] Netiquette (specifically Humbug Lists)
Bruce Campbell
bc at humbug.org.au
Mon Feb 4 11:33:35 EST 2002
[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and ]
[ Unix-related topics. Please observe the list's charter. ]
[ Worthwhile understanding: http://www.humbug.org.au/netiquette.html ]
Greetings,
Right above the word 'Greetings', the Humbug lists automatically put three
little lines imploring you to read the List Charter, and to have a browse
through a particular URL.
Sometimes, it is useful to read the URL occasionally. It helps to avoid
the list moderators getting grumpy and chiding people to read the URL.
It also is useful, not to say 'polite', to remove the header lines, _and
anything else that is not related to your reply_ , before replying. ( To
say nothing of the future possibility of bouncing posts if people don't
remove this text ).
Sometimes, a discussion may evolve into something not appropriate to the
'general' list, for instance the recent Wireless discussion (which became
non-Humbug-general after about 7 posts). In such an instance, taking the
thread to the 'chat' list is useful. Noticing that a thread has moved,
and observing the move, is also useful.
Lastly, some people have subscribed to the 'general' (and 'chat') lists,
and then have attempted to post to the list from a different address. As
they have noticed, such posts simply don't appear on the list.
Majordomo, being a grumpy bastard, bounces these messages to the
moderators as they are not from a subscribed address. The moderators may
or may not forward these messages, depending on how irked they are feeling
towards the person at the time.
If you are not sure about which address you are subscribed as, please
refer to your saved copy of your subscription information which tells you
which address you are subscribed as. You did save that message, right?
The nice little one that asks you nicely to save it?
If you haven't saved the message, you can find out by asking majordomo,
as per:
To: majordomo at lists.humbug.org.au
Subject: Majordomo does not read this line
which me at my.address.at.my.isp
Majordomo will then tell you if your address is subscribed, and to which
list. If that doesn't work, try:
which my.isp
To see which addresses at your ISP are listed (sometimes this may be
surprising).
Finally, you can always ask majordomo for:
help
If you have read thus far, please read aj's well-written post on the
subject below.
--==--
Bruce.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 12:48:59 +1000
From: Anthony Towns
Hello world,
Some tips:
Read what you're about to post four or five times before you hit
the send button. It'll save you embarrassment and everyone else
a lot of agitation. This includes the headers, especially "To:",
"Cc:", "Bcc:", "From:" and "Subject:". This also includes the
body of your message. If you're posting something that you're
*really* not sure about, ask a friend to review it first before
posting. Seriously.
If you *do* find that you make a mistake, think *very* carefully
about whether it needs to be corrected, and if it does post the
shortest post possible that will correct it. Quote just enough to
give context, and just enough to give the correction. No more.
If you're posting a question, think about whether you really need
to ask a couple of hundred other people for help first, or if you
can find out the answer on your own. /usr/doc/*, www.linux.org
[0], and www.altavista.digital.com all have far more time on their
hands to help with queries than most of us do here. So save us
for the ones that they can't answer.
If you're posting an answer, stop and check to see if anyone else
has posted the answer first. If you have anything constructive
to add, reply to their post, not the original question. If you
don't have anything to add, don't say anything. If your mail
reader makes this hard, get a new mail reader.
When you're replying to other people it's customary to intersperse
your response with their questions, both so you can answer the
actual question that was asked, and so everyone else has some
idea what you're talking about. It's also customary to limit your
quoting to the minimum possible to get your point across. Don't
quote the "Hi, lovely weather we've been having" part of a post,
unless you specifically want to say "Yeah, it's due to the Libido
effect, I hear", so to speak. If your mail reader makes this hard,
get a new mail reader.
Finally consider whether you should be posting to the list, or via
personal email. If it's a problem that other people could have,
post to the list. If it's an on topic discussion, and other people
are likely to be interested, post to the list. If it's a "yes, I'd
like a Linux badge", don't. Adding a "</aol>" to a "me too" post,
doesn't make it the height of wit, btw. Least of all when ten
other comedians try the same thing in the space of ten minutes.
--
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