I've the feeling that many subscribers are quite confused about the
on-topic/off-topic "policy" on this list.
In general, we try to keep threads mod_perl-centric. Because when the list
starts to be dumping grounds for other "related" things, with a side effect of
surging the list's traffic, those who were interested in pure mod_perl
discussions, simply leave. And among those who leave we lose current or
potential contributors.
It's extremely hard to tell what's on-topic and what's not, because mod_perl
programmers touch an enourmous amount of areas at their work. And sometimes
this list is the only place where you can get an advice on certain topics,
which happen to be related to mod_perl. But... my rule of thumb of deciding
what's off-topic is very simple: think whether there is another good place to
discuss a question in hand.
May be an example will help to explain that approach.
If somebody asks a beginners question on perl; usually how to write their code
better, or why some code doesn't work, you have to agree that there are plenty
other forums where this can be discussed (e.g. perlmonks.org). Now, when
somebody asks about a proper way to generate unique hardly guessable session
keys, that's a grey zone; on one side this is not a mod_perl specific
question, on the other side it is, because under mod_perl you can take a
benefit of process persistance and the way your keys are generated are a bit
different. If you ask about performance improvement, this is kind of questions
that are always welcome here, because I doubt there is any other forum where
there are as many experts in performance as in the mod_perl community. But
again, this is a grey zone. Obviously when something doesn't work under
mod_perl, but works under mod_cgi, this is a very ontopic question.
So, the next time you are about to ask a question which is not clearly on
topic, first think whether you can get your answers elsewhere. If you don't
where to ask, and you have browsed the help docs, ask about the right resource
(just like Jeff did). If you have failed to find an answer elsewhere, after
truly looking for it, I guess it's fine to ask here as a last resort,
explaining your situation. But some people dare to post a statement: "I know
that you can answer my question, so I'm asking it here". That's ugly.
I feel that we need to add some sort of explanation of the on/off-topic posts
issue to http://perl.apache.org/maillist/email-etiquette.html. Perhaps
somebody who's writing is better than mine can contribute that. I feel that I
brag too much around and people lose the point. So if somebody can write a
clear, concise version of my bragging, or even better your own thoughts,
please do that.
Finally, it's everybody's list. If you don't like the way things are, change
them. But please don't complain if you do nothing to help others (that's
unrelated to your post, Jeff :).
__________________________________________________________________
Stas Bekman JAm_pH ------> Just Another mod_perl Hacker
http://stason.org/ mod_perl Guide ---> http://perl.apache.org
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://use.perl.org http://apacheweek.com
http://modperlbook.org http://apache.org http://ticketmaster.com
