Re: [OFF TOPIC] CRUD table form problems

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 11:47 AM, John Foliot - WATS.ca <foliot@wats.ca>wrote:

> Am I the only one on a "standards" mailing list that finds this statement
> preposterous?  I hope that whomever Thufir finds to answer his question
> provides a sufficiently useful answer - it might not be the *right* answer
> of course, but it might suffice.


I'm confident you aren't the only one.    Folks tend to wander onto this
list rather frequently thinking that they will find help with basic HTML
questions.

They do not understand that this is a list for advanced practitioners that
are helping to develop and refine new standards for HTML---and they may have
been given incorrect advice to ask questions here.

These folks are often not up-to-speed on even basic concepts such as what
"validation" means in the context of producing language standards (e.g. the
idea that a given string is either a sentential form in a given
grammar---i.e. "valid"---or it is not.)

This is unavoidable unless we make this a moderated list---which means some
poor soul has to volunteer their time to read every posting and pass
judgment on it.      Unlikely to happen.

Fortunately, there are usually people such as David that make very gracious
replies in an attempt to help those who wander in discover that they are "in
the wrong room" in a face-saving way, and may even try to point them in the
right direction.

I wonder if it would be possible to deploy an auto-responder that directs
posters to a web form

 Thank you for your posting to www-html@w3.org.
 To help us direct your question properly, please select one:

 Is your question:
     ( ) a general question seeking help with HTML?
     ( ) posting by an HTML expert that is contributing to a discussion
         of new HTML standards?

If the user selects the first option, they can be redirected to a very
polite message indicating that they've stumbled on the wrong forum for their
purposes.     We might even suggest keywords they could use to search for a
better forum.

Only if the users selects the second option would their post appear.

Not only would this cut down on off-topic traffic, it would help folks like
Thufir to find a more appropriate venue for their questions, and avoid
embarrassment for all.

I do, recognize, though that by bringing up a meta-discussion of how best to
handle traffic on the list, I am myself engaging in an off-topic
posting---and risking starting an whole off-topic thread in which the
pros/cons of various strategies are debated.

Though just in the time I've been typing this, I'm realizing that that
thread is already underway.  So, what the heck.

Regards,
Phill


>
> The HTML was sufficiently valid for my purposes, it was more a matter
> of
> knowing how to use the tags.  (The HTML was generated by Jakarta ECS,
> BTW.)
>





>
>
> Head back down...
>
> JF
>
>
>


-- 
Phill Conrad, Dept. of Computer Science
University of California, Santa Barbara
Joint Appointment: College of Creative Studies (www.ccs.ucsb.edu)
pconrad@cs.ucsb.edu, www.cs.ucsb.edu/~pconrad