One thing that's useful for both people who don't know where else to turn
and people who don't want anything that's not pure mod_perl is simply to
preface your subject line with [OT] ... it's then very simple to filter
out unwanted messages in any mail reader.
- nick
PS Stas, I think maybe you meant to s/brag/ramble/g ... one thing I've
never seen you guilty of is bragging :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nick Tonkin {|8^)>
On Tue, 17 Dec 2002, Stas Bekman wrote:
> 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
>
>
