Hello Andrew,
On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 23:14:43 +0100 GMT (04/10/2003, 05:14 +0700 GMT),
Andrew Hodgson wrote:
GK>> "Terms and conditions of" and you're browsing using a screen reader ;))
> Well you are right; I just chuck the list rules [...] and as you
> said in another post, viewing the message with a screen reader can
> be annoying,
So users of screen readers should be excepted from reading the rules?
How about users of 15-inch screens? Or users of P-III's? Or users of
shared wireless extra-lightweight laptops with built-in CD-RW drives
and an optical mouse? Reading the rules can be annoying to people,
whatever system they use. The list is for all, and the rules are the
same for all. If you don't read them, you will still have to follow
them, so it makes sense to wade your way through them once...
I was on a list for "blind and seeing people" for a while, and guess
what, that list had rules too. These were harshly enforced by the
moderator, who used a screen reader himself. Had anybody said "I didn't
read the rules", he would likely have been taken off the list before
he could even mention "because I use a screen reader".
Hey, TBUDL is a very cuddly place when I think about it and compare it
to some other groups, especially some of the NGs on the German Usenet.
More than half of the postings there are people flaming each other as
they accuse each other of not having obeyed one rule or another (the
importance of which often eludes me).
And I didn't stay on the Jaws list long enough to know whether they
post rules regularly (my first question, why did JFW not run correctly
on my system, was quickly answered: it doesn't run correctly under
Chinese Windows 98), but the people there also followed rules that
have either been established through history or by decree. Should I
have said "sorry, I don't use a screen reader, so I should be excepted
from rule so-and-so"?
With regards to screen readers, we have included 2 rules into the
German TB Beginner's List:
1.) Everybody is requested to turn off the reply counter in the
subject field.
2.) Everybody is requested to set quote-style to "None", so that no
initials or names are insterted by TB before the ">" of quoted text.
The reason is that for seeing people, it is easy to skip the reply
counter or the initials, but a screen reader won't, and it's kind of
annoying.
Anyway, this thread has also become too long now, what I am saying is:
It's just the sig delimiter ("cut mark") we are talking about. If
other people think it makes their replies to your postings easier, put
it in your template. It's a small one-time effort and everybody is
happy.
> especially when you have to chew through the parts about not sending
> commands to the list submission address/being on topic etc to get to
> the rules, which are usually 2 thirds of the way down the document
> anyway.
That's OK, nobody will remember all the rules when he first
subscribes, and the mods will give hints. The sig delimiter is a
favourite newbie mistake, and I don't think that newbies will more
likely to follow this rule from the beginning if it is in the first
part of the rules.
I cannot find anything particularly unfriendly in the mid you
referenced, but let Pranav speak for himself.
I hope you don't find this posting unfriendly; it is not meant in that
way, I just sometimes write the way I think. It doesn't always come
out the way it was intended, and I have at times been critisised for
that too. I'm just saying this, so that you don't feel offended or
what, just give me the benefit of the doubt if you feel that way.
--
Cheers,
Thomas.
Moderator der deutschen The Bat! Beginner Liste.
Regular naps prevent old age..... especially if you take them while
driving.
Message reply created with The Bat! 2.00.22
under Chinese Windows 98 4.10 Build 2222 A
using a Pentium P4 1.7 GHz, 128MB RAM
________________________________________________
Current version is 2.00.6 | "Using TBUDL" information:
http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
