Sandip Bhattacharya wrote:
Good to see you disciplining people about this obnoxious practice, but I
think you can save yourself some trouble, by copying your standard
"Don't hijack a thread!!!" content to a FAQ entry on the site, and
giving the URL instead.
Thanks to the suggestions by Sandip Bhattacharya and Arindam you have before yourself a literary gem (?) from me.
This is a first draft of "How not to behave on mailing lists". I have poured my heart out while writing about my favorite irritant, thread hijacking. I have put some words about inadequate use of google and top posting, but I think there are people who have much more hatred in their hearts who can comment on these topics better than me. Please let your venom flow and mail your suggestions off line to me.
Once the quality of the document is good (or venomous) enough I will post it to my website and also send it to the LUGD mail admin, who may put it up on the LUGD website.
Vivek had also written to point out a flaw that not many people would be inclined to click on a link detailing thread hijacking. I agree with him . However this document would provide a basic template for the members of this list which they can modify to meet their needs.
How not to behave on mailing lists **********************************
Mailing lists are one of the major means of interaction between Linux and Free Software (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) enthusiasts keep in touch. To be a part of this community we expect the new members to follow certain decorum when they post on these mailing lists. Often the erring new members are gently reprimanded by the seniors in the mailing list, at other times they are mercilessly flamed (http://www.faqs.org/docs/jargon/F/flame.html) to death.
This document is my attempt to put together a few mistakes which people usually commit when they post, why these mistakes are annoying and how best to avoid them.
Not doing enough research =========================
You should do a thorough research before posting a question. If folks think you have not even tried the obvious step of reading the docs applicable to your problem, they are likely to become annoyed. Here are a few tips :
* Read the man and info pages. Most man and info pages have a `bugs'
section. See if that applies to your case.* Run your program with a "-h"or "-help" option
* Read the program documentation (usually found in
`/usr/doc/program_name' or `/usr/share/doc/program_name') * If you have an error message from your program, copy the whole
string into the google search area, enclose it in double quotes
and then search.
Using non descriptive subject lines ===================================
The subject line should accurately describe the topic you are discussing. In addition, don't use your subject line as your main question or statement and then fail to repeat (or rephrase) it in the body of the message. For example, do not put your `Subject' as `I need a FOOBAR CD' and leave the body of the email blank.
Use your subject line to indicate what problem we can expect to find
in your query. Don't waste your subject line in pleading ("Please read", "Urgent", "HELP!!!"...).
Thread hijacking ================
To start a new topic of discussion (commonly called a `thread'), compose a new message. Hit the "Write new message" button (or whatever button your client uses). Type in the address of the mailing list as the To address. This is the only way to actually start a new thread.
Always start a new thread instead of taking an already ongoing one, changing the subject line and posting it again. The subject line is only loosely related to the threading. Every mail message has a message-id. When you "reply" or "follow up" to a message, you client is supposed to put a References header with the message-id of the message you are replying to.
If you use an existing thread, the result is that your question is buried below unrelated questions when looking at the mailing list in a threaded way. This is known as `Hijacking threads'. It causes information to be lost and you'll be less likely to get an answer.
Top Posting ===========
Top posting means putting the answer to an email first.
Usually, the reading-flow is from left to right and from top to bottom, and people expect a chronological sequence similar to this. Especially people who are reading a lot of articles (and who therefore would qualify as the ideal person to answer your question) appreciate it if they can read at first the text to which you are referring. The quoted text is some kind of help to remember the topic, which of course will not work, if you place the quoted text below your response.
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