list netiquette

[tmetro-blu-5a1Jt6qxUNc at public.gmane.org (Tom Metro)]

While we're griping about netiquette, how about starting a separate
thread, or at least changing the subject when you spawn a tangent? (I
wish mail clients had a one-button solution for quoting a message while
creating a new thread.)


Jerry Feldman wrote:
> ...please reply to the list only. Most decent email programs have
> ReplyList buttons, at least Thunderbird and Claws do.

Thunderbird 2.x does not. 3.x does, but it isn't present on the toolbar
by default.

The aging Netiquette Guidelines RFC:
http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

doesn't address this specific issue.


Jarod Wilson wrote:
> ...gmail will simply recognize its the same message, merging them
> into a single mail.

I've been told some of the mail clients on OS X either inherently or via
extensions will filter duplicates. As Dan pointed out, with a bit more
effort, you can setup a filter for that purpose on Linux.


> Semi-amusingly, its actually considered *bad* etiquette to drop anyone
> from being cc'd on other lists...

Right. It seems to be a convention that varies by list. It's the norm
these days. Years ago it was not. Ben made some good points on why the
practice is useful.

When it comes to netiquette, I rather discourage top-posting and lazy
quoting than fight this battle, which can be addressed by other means.

I'm surprised Dan didn't mention it in his post, but his client sets his
message headers such that he gets excluded on "Reply All" messages, yet
still receives normal replies. This appears to be accomplished via the
Mail-Followup-To header, which Thunderbird apparently honors.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/