Ecologgers:
There's also a technological reason to not changing the subject line
-- it allows those of us with thread-ready email programs (gmail,
thunderbird, listserv aggregators, many others) to collapse or expand
threads at will. If the thread's subject substantially changes, then
its fine to change the subject, but if its not really fundamentally
different, then all that ends up happening is we see two threads that
are difficult to parse together. IMHO, listserv etiquette should be NOT
to change the subject line unless absolutely neccessary. Wayne, I
always enjoy reading your posts but I have to agree that I see you
change the subject line frequently without much reason to, and it often
splits conversations in two for no good reason.
Also, Bill, I agree with the reply-to situation, but perhaps the
moderator should change the listserv settings such that the reply-to is
by default the listserv, not the sender. I always have to click
reply-all, and then go back and delete the sender's email address (I
suspect this second step is often skipped).
My two cents, kaching, kaching.
--j
P.S. I'm glad this is about the most contentious issue we have on this
listserv -- anyone out there ever use the R-help listserv (the main
R-stats listserv)? For giggles, everyone should try asking some
question like "how do I read in a CSV file" there sometime and watch the
fury a "noob" question like that evokes from their members...
William Silvert wrote:
Although I can understand the potential for people who only follow a
couple of topics with threaded readers to miss some posts with
modified subject lines, I really don't see this as a big issue. Most
threads dominate the postings for their lifetime, but threads evolve
too, and after a while the original subject line is no longer fully
descriptive. As for tracing back to the original posting, if the post
includes just the relevant part that should be sufficient.
And in keeping with the evolutionary nature of threads, I would add my
own mild complaint - replying not only to the list, but to the poster
as well. This means that the person who posts gets two copies of every
reply, but this can lead to confusion for everyone, since it unsyncs
the postings. Suppose that you reply to this post with messages to
both me and the list. I get the personal reply first, and respond to
both you and the list. Unlss David is very diligent about the order
that items go out, list members may receive a response before they see
the message to which the response is sent. This happens sometimes on
this list, but it is quite common on unmoderated lists where longer
messages may take longer to get circulated. Since presumably the
people who post to the list also read the list, there is no need to
include them in the reply, just send it to the list please.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Tyson" <landr...@cox.net>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 9:32 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Listserv posting and email subject line additions
Ecolog
Ecolog:
I received the following message from a listserv subscriber who wishes
to remain anonymous:
"I know people have asked before and you have dismissed it, but I find
your changing of seemingly every subject line annoying and
presumptuous. In this case, what was gained by changing the subject
line? It made referencing back the original email more difficult."
. . . and in later message: "PS This is a personal message and I would
appreciate it not being
forwarded to the whole list.
Thanks,"
[Name withheld at sender's request]]
--
Jonathan A. Greenberg, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS)
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
The Barn, Room 250N
Davis, CA 95616
Cell: 415-794-5043
AIM: jgrn307, MSN: jgrn...@hotmail.com, Gchat: jgrn307
