On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:32:00 +0100 Came this utterance formulated by Mike Scott to my mailbox:
> Michael Adams wrote: > ... > > Both this list and the user list have been intentionally made as > > easy to contact with questions as possible. This is to ease the way > > for newbies. Regular contributors on the list know to reply to both > > the list and the OP when a non-subscribed email hits the list (in my > > mail client i have filtered unsubscribed posts to a seperate > > sub-folder). In that way we become a help-desk without flooding the > > OPs email address with all the other emails unrelated to their > > question. > > > > It works, it just takes some getting your head around. > > > > I beg to differ about that last statement. The subject comes up a lot > on the 'users' list. > > That list gets a large number of queries from unsubscribed people. The > /ONLY/ way of seeing whether or not a poster is subscribed is to look > for the moderators' header - which is tedious for a 'replyer' and so > frequently overlooked, and not everyone knows how or should be > bothered to 'colour' inbound messages (not 100% reliable in, eg TB, > anyway, but that's another issue). I have a working system of filtering unsubscribed posts to a subfolder. It took me a little time to understand the header contents which were well explained and less than 10 minutes to set up the required filters. > The result being a significant number of posts saying 'forwarded to > OP' or the equivalent which clutter up the list. Then there's the > sheer mechanics of getting both list address and OP's address into the > recipient list, especially when following up to a reply that's > forgotten to include..... well, you get the drift. Any emails in the above folder i use "reply all" instead of "reply". A minor inconvenience. > Many times I've noticed a thread drifting on, OP well and truly out of > the loop, and no doubt wondering why the 'help desk' hasn't replied. Many meandering threads discuss one of the finer points of a single issue or discuss OT issues (like this thread). Information that the OP does not want or need to know. It is actually better that they are out of the loop. > IMO I think the lists should stop pretending to newbies to be a help > desk. They're not, and never will be. In the long run, I don't think > it's helpful to those newbies; and it's potentially harmful to OOo's > standing when the "help desk" cannot provide the instant answers they > want (/especially/ when pointed in our direction by unscrupulous > vendors of wrapped-up versions of OOo wanting to offer support on the > cheap to their often-duped paying customers). > This form of help is a long established part of Open Source Software. It is an established way of contributing back to the open source community which supplied the programs we use. > IMO again and following on from that - I think unsubscribed posters > should get a polite message to that effect, explaining the status of > OOo, of the list, and inviting them to subscribe should they /really/ > wish to post to the list. > The list method has worked for years. Some work with it, others work against it, some struggle to leave very soon after being asked to subscribe, when subscription was not in their best interests. It is personal choice. I still think it is wrong to suggest that newbies should join the list to get a simple question answered. Your arguments and those of many others to the contrary, have not disuaded me of that opinion. -- Michael All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well - Julian of Norwich 1342 - 1416 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: discuss-unsubscr...@openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: discuss-h...@openoffice.org
