Bug in mailing lists; unfriendly to non-subscribers

DJ Delorie dj at delorie.com
Mon Jul 5 18:12:57 UTC 2010


On 07/05/2010 01:13 PM, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> Fact: the most difficult a process is to follow, the less people would follow it

Fact: if it were too easy, spam would overwhelm everything else, and the 
list would be useless.

> Fact: a community benefits from all kinds of contribution, even from
> one-post people

Fact: a community benefits more from people who care about 
communicating, not just dumping a problem in someone else's lap.

> Fact: the current system doesn't welcome one-time posts

Fact: it does, if you subscribe.

> Fact: the current system doesn't allow cross-posting

Fact: This is a good thing.  Focus, people!  Focus!

> Fact: the current system doesn't specify when the reply was meant for
> the receiver

Fact: this is a problem with your mailer, not our list.

> Fact: the current system doesn't allow to properly Cc people
> (non-subscribers) to a thread

Fact: this is your *opinion* since you used the word "properly"

> I wan't aware there's a religious war about this, I just thought that
> whomever made the decision, didn't really had all the facts.

Yet you chose facts which backed your opinion, and left out facts
which worked against you.  *That* makes your post religious.
This isn't the kind of problem that gets solved with "facts" and 
insults.  This kind of problem only gets solved by people understanding 
how it got the way it did, and carefully considering the ramifications 
of any change (however minor), and being empowered to make those 
changes.  None of us are doing any of those, including you.


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