List maintenance issues

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@omegacs.net>]

In order to facilitate cleaning the lists up, all the leaders need to apply 
all the rules to their fullest, to set an example if nothing else.

1) make *sure* that threads move into the appropriate lists.  Put a line at 
the top of the message saying 'This thread moves to seul-dev-*', and set 
the reply-to: to the list address:

-----
From: xyz@seul.org
To: seul-project@seul.org, seul-dev-ui@seul.org
Reply-to: seul-dev-ui@seul.org				<<<<<<<<<<
Subject: something

***** This thread moves to seul-dev-ui! *****

ui stuff goes here...
-----

The reply-to:, when explicitly added, will force most decent mailers to not 
reply to the seul-project list.

2) be *very* careful about your to: and cc: lines.  Before you send *any* 
message, look over the headers extremely carefully.  Any address that are 
known to be on the list (most obviously @seul.org addresses) should be 
removed.  If you have a point to make, send the mail To: that person and 
Cc: the list.

A problem has been fixed that seems to have originated from Orn's mailer 
(XFMail 1.3-alpha-010198).  The To-get-off-this-list: header was being 
interpreted by XFMail as yet another address line, so it was constructing 
addresses like body.unsubscribe.seul-leaders@oehansen.pp.se.  That's a bug, 
and someone (Orn?) should try to tell the XFMail people about that.  It's 
been fixed for now on our lists, though, because arma just added an 'X-' to 
the end of it.  If XFMail still screws up, then there's something 
*seriously* wrong with it, as all mailers are supposed to outright ignore 
X-...: headers unless they are explicitly looking for one.

3) split threads: There are many many threads out there that have multiple 
topics, and they *never* have decent subjects.  When something changes 
topics, it should be renamed.  If a new topic sprouts, it should be sent as 
a *separate* message, to start a new thread.

4) clean up the quoting: many people are quoting *huge* amounts of the 
message they're replying to.  That means that for most messages people are 
forced to scroll through 2 or 3 pages of headers and/or quoted text before 
anything new shows up.

When you quote a message, quote *only* what is applicable.  Nothing else.  
If you're replying to a single sentence embedded in the middle of a 
paragraph, where the rest of the paragraph isn't of consequence, remove 
those parts and re-indent the sentence.

If you're looking for examples of what I'm talking about, look at any of my 
messages.  I almost always follow a single standard, sometimes deviating 
with spare newlines if things get thick.

5) don't reply about things that are already decided or solved.  An example 
of this is the loop-o-death.  We all know that it will be solved one way or 
another (either Rick's, mine, or more likely a combination), yet half of 
our traffic is in response to issues that have been solved by these fixes.  
When someone posts about them, *don't reply*.  Let the thread die.

This will become less of a problem when the development website is more 
formalized, and decisions and fixes can be found there, but simply not 
replying to the thread is the best way to make a point.  Telling them over 
and over that the decision is made, or a fix exists, just isn't sinking in. 
If all else fails, post a *NEW* message to the list, stating once and for 
all, that something is the case.  If people still don't get it, reply 
*privately* to them, telling them, politely, to get a clue.


If the leaders can make it a habit of cleaning up their messages and 
forcing threads to move to appropriate lists, we'll have this problem 
solved in no time flat.  Please guys, let's make sure this happens.  
seul-project is becoming far less than useful.

TIA,
   Omega

     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
        __
       /  \                SEUL: Simple End-User Linux -
      |    | M E G A            Creating a Linux distribution
      _\  /_                         for the home or office user


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