[OSM-talk] mailing list behavior

[Christopher Woods]

> And have you been convinced sending the author two 
> messages...makes sense? or that the default behavior is a 
> private response to a public conversation...
> 
>  I have even found direct emails quite close to rude.(mostly 
> when the responder actually was rude) the default reply  
> should simply target the list ... The direct emails arent 
> marked as coming through the list and are likely to end up in 
> my spam bucketss... or just get overlooked.
> 
> I am in my forties and preger to learn new tricks that make 
> sense and are generally useful.. fighting with my mail client 
> to avoid double sending to folks isnt one of them.

I don't necessarily agree on a personal level, but there's no use fighting
the current when it's far stronger than you are individually. I've learnt
that the hard way on other lists :(

I'm in agreement with you... List emails should solely come from the list,
not from individuals who are responding to a conversation you've previously
taken part in. But, while I prefer to reply solely to the list's main
address, if the default reply method for this list is to respond to
individual correspondents and send the mail to the list address to deal with
the other subscribers, then I suppose all I can do is shrug my shoulders and
get used to it.

On the odd occasion such as now, I'll manually edit the to: addresses and
only put in the talk at osm list address (which I know seems a bit hypocritical
given how I've sent previous emails in this list today) but if that's how
the list admins have configured it then so be it. Pragmatism wins.

Why don't I just keep on modifying the to: addresses each time I send a
reply? Well, although it's a relatively minor operation, after a while it
becomes too much of a hassle and too frustrating to have to go and clean out
the recipient addresses every time. I'll just fire off a response and hit
Send. I'm on a lot of lists and I can foresee it becoming very tiresome
after a while - but as long as the other active participants don't mind
correspondence being conducted in this manner, then who am I to go against
the tide? <shrug>



(... Unless you want to form an uprising with me and take over the list in a
piratey style? (I already have September the 19th* block booked for
activities of this manner if you're interested.))


(*see yarr.org.uk)