- From: Tobie Langel <tobie@fb.com>
- Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:16:45 +0000
- To: Doug Schepers <schepers@w3.org>, "public-webplatform@w3.org" <public-webplatform@w3.org>
+1 to that to. --tobie On 10/17/12 5:11 PM, "Doug Schepers" <schepers@w3.org> wrote: >Hi, folks- > >I think over time we should gather our posting guidelines for this list >into a place on the wiki, but for now, I just wanted to suggest the >following: > >Only post a single topic per email. > > >It's tempting to just list several things you've noticed with the site >into a single long email, but I've found through years of standards work >via email that this practice has some serious downsides in a large >collaborative environment. > >1) People tend to put off reading long emails, delaying (or even >preventing) the conversation; > >2) People tend to respond on only 1 or 2 points, and usually at least >some points get lost (even important ones); > >3) It's hard to follow conversations that have multiple threads in the >same email; > >4) Short emails with targeted points more often lead to quick >conclusions and immediate action, while longer emails tend to result in >longer conversations without conclusions or actions; > >5) It's harder to find archived conversations that don't have a clear, >simple thread (and a good descriptive subject line), when you go back >and look later; > >6) Emails with multiple topics are more subject to "topic drift", in >which some related point is raised from one of the points, and the >conversation goes off on a tangent leading even further from any of the >original points. > > >Inevitably, someone will post an email with multiple topics. When you >respond to these, an effective strategy for keeping focused is to only >respond to one of the points, trim out the rest of the email, and change >the subject like from "Re: Here's a braindump" to "The Foo Issue (was: >Here's a braindump)". > > >On a final note, I want to emphasize that posting emails with multiple >topics is not "bad behavior"; it's not breaking netiquette, it's not >rude, it's not trolling, and it's not antisocial. It's just less >effective than posting one topic per email. So, don't feel bad if you've >done this, but do consider this suggestion when writing future emails on >this list. > > >Regards- >-Doug Schepers >W3C Developer Relations Lead
Received on Wednesday, 17 October 2012 16:17:11 UTC