[haiku] Re: Proposal: add "Stay on topic" clause to Mailing List Etiquette
- From: "Jorge G. Mare" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:55:13 -0800
Howdy,
Matt Madia wrote:
-1. First, I agree that replying about different topics in the same
thread can be annoying. However, I do not see the logic of it
'derailing the conversation' or 'affecting the productivity of the
list' -- especially when the content is appropriate for the list.
Those emails would still occur on the list, merely with a different
subject. At that point, what people decide to respond to is their own
business.
Off topic posts make a thread unproductive because they can and do
derail the conversation into irrelevant areas of discussion and thus
make it difficult to get results and/or reach conclusions that lead to
actual actions that are relevant to the initial topic (which is the
whole point of starting thread after all).
The recent "Haiku flier reprint" thread is a typical example of this. In
addition to letting people know that I was volunteering to create a new
version of the Haiku flier, I started the thread to get confirmation
that Haiku Inc. would pay for the printing.
After six days of discussion, a lot of time and effort has gone into the
many posts about the environment, but nobody has cared to cast their
vote on whether Haiku should fund the printing or not, which was the
main point of the thread. This is a typical case of a means of
communication going dysfunctional.
It is in such a context that a "stay on topic" guideline is much more
important to the purpose of mailing list as a means of communication
than the somewhat superfluous and merely cosmetic "No Top Posting" and
"Trim Unnecessary Reply Text" clauses that we already have in place.
Next, if the etiquette were to be updated, I would much rather see
clauses that discourage emails that can be seen as inflammatory,
insulting, or as personal attacks. There is simply no place for such
emails. I believe that many would agree that such emails harm
productivity more.
Draft the clause and put it up for a vote.
Cheers,
Jorge/aka Koki
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