Re: GROW UP!

Tim Bray <tbray@textuality.com> writes:
> Four words: REPLY TO THE GROUP
> 
> This list is bloody near impossible to read and in danger of buckling
> under its own weight, and unless some of the people learn the basic
> net skill of replying to the group, not just hitting "reply to all", 
> so I don't get two #!$^@ copies of everything in a thread I may have
> originated 3 months ago, I will ask the chair simply to remove them.  
> If they do not have sufficient technical competence to engage in basic 
> email dialogue, they have no role in helping to design Internet protocols 
> of the future. 
> 
> You know who you are.  I'm serious. - Tim

This is only netiquette in your opinion. I don't appreciate being
threatened or bullied into following your choice of behavior as if it
was the only acceptable one. Not everyone is doing it out of incompetence,
arrogance, or simply to annoy you. I have always (for over ten years) cc'd
a list on replies to the sender as a matter of courtesy, reliability, and
to give the sender a bit of a time advantage over the list delay.

I'll try to remember that you prefer not being replied to, but the world
(nor this list) doesn't come to an end depending on whether two messages
arrive in your or my inbox. If they have the same message ID, delete one,
and if that is too onerous a manual task, automate that deletion. 

Maybe 'LIGHTEN UP' is a better subject here. I think threatening to remove
people from the discussion list because they don't follow your preferred
method of messaging doesn't exactly promote the healthy, professional
exchange which you seem so keen to advocate.

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim, SGML Grease Monkey                  <altheim[@]eng.sun.com>
Member of Technical Staff, Tools Development & Support
Sun Microsystems, 2550 Garcia Ave., MS UMPK17-102, Menlo Park, CA 94043 USA
         "Give a monkey the tools and he'll build a typewriter."

Received on Thursday, 5 June 1997 15:13:25 UTC