[H-GEN] software runs the world

Bradley Marshall brad at humbug.org.au
Sun Mar 20 06:40:12 EST 2005


On Sat, Mar 19, 2005 at 06:12:07PM +1000, Russell Stuart wrote:
> It wasn't deliberate.  I set 
> the reply to wrongly - or rather left it at the default
> which in my case is general.  I sent the original post to
> dsig because it was about what the future might be like
> for programmers.

That's fine, people make mistakes.

> Because the list
> no longer does reply to munging I have to do manually.
> Since I really shouldn't have to do it manually (there are
> after all lots of lists out there where I don't have to), 
> it ain't my fault if I stuff it up.

So, you choose to add an extra header manually, you stuff up
and its somehow the mailing lists fault?  I'm sure its fairly
obvious there's a flaw in that logic somewhere.  It should
be quite clear that reply-tos are not necessary for everyone,
and if you choose to not use one of the many options that are
available for dealing with it, its hardly the lists fault.
Its not as if its a secret that the lists don't do it, and it
hasn't changed in quite a while.

Frankly, this trend of people adding reply-tos to the list
while the list doesn't just makes the whole thing confusing
for people - when replying to an email, the actions the mailer
take will change depending on who's sent the message.  

It's a much better option if you require the reply-to and the
list doesn't do it to do a procmail-like solution where you
get the header without causing the confusion for other people.

> Yes, and possibly therein lies the rub.  Blogs have given
> people a new option - instead of posting to a list, they
> can sound off on a blog.  If this is an alternative to
> posting on a list, then it is going to negatively impact
> lists such as this one.

People could always publish their opinions elsewhere, I just
see it as another option.

> Right now I think this feedback will be missing when I write
> something and put something up on a blog.  I guess I will
> find out soon enough.

I've had a few extended "conversations" with people over a blog,
and its not that hard to keep track of.  Planets - like Planet
HUMBUG - certainly help with this if you're dealing with people
who are in the same community, and RSS feeds are another option
for being informed when new posts are made.

Thanks,
Brad
-- 
Brad Marshall
brad at humbug.org.au
http://quark.humbug.org.au/




More information about the General mailing list