Good one, Manoj.
Greg says: "the ML admin tweaks a field. now everybody can tell the
appropriate maillist from the subject line. no mail agent tweaking needed."
vs.
Manoj says: "all N readers of the ML need to go and adjust their mail reader
to deal. the ML admin won't help you because you're dumb and lazy and don't
want to figure out how to use your mail agent. and it isn't my fault if you
keep all your messages in the inbox rather than sorting them to different
boxes. I'm telling you that is how you must use your mail agent."
Cost/benefit: adding the prefix helps more people than it hinders; vs not
adding the prefix requires more total cost/time."
Cheers,
-g
On Sat, Sep 09, 2000 at 01:28:16PM -0700, Manoj Kasichainula wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 09, 2000 at 03:34:45PM -0400, Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:
> > Would it be a possible to change the [PATCH] notice to something more
> > descriptive? Perhaps [SVN PATCH]? This isn't the only list with patches that
> > I am on....
>
> Isn't it interesting how all mailing lists have the same threads
> eventually? Subject prefixes are one of them. As a public service,
> I'll try to cut this thread short.
>
> Originator: "Can people add a prefix to their subjects so I know what
> list a message comes from?"
>
> 3 anti replies: "You expect people to remember to add a prefix to their
> subjects, just for you?"
>
> Originator: "OK, then can't the list add it automatically? This'll make
> it much easier for me to tell what lists the messages in my inbox are
> coming from"
>
> 5 anti replies: "Just use a tool like procmail, or a mailer that can show
> the list name in the message index like mutt. You don't need a subject
> prefix."
>
> Originator: "But my mail tools don't support mail sorting."
>
> 3 pro replies: "Some people don't have an environment where they can
> do such things." "Why should people have to learn such arcane
> features? Can't you just do this one thing for us?"
>
> 50 anti replies: "Well, then get better tools!" "Adding these prefixes
> make multi-list communications very cluttered, and most of the time,
> there's only so much room in the mailer's message index for a subject
> line, and useless prefixes take up space."
>
> 10 pro: "You suck!"
>
> 50 anti: "You're lame!"
>
> somebody: "Hitler didn't use subject prefixes in his messages!"
>
>
> For the record, I fall soundly into the anti-subject-prefix camp. And
> my understanding is that your mailer (Outlook Express) supports mail
> sorting anyway.
--
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/
Received on Sat Oct 21 14:36:08 2006