After following a lively etiquette thread yesterday, I thought I would put together a number of the comments in case the list feels like having a written set of guidelines. The following is a draft for comment. It needs a volunteer to collate comments and edit it appropriately. If the list can agree on a final revision, maybe the list owner can post it for new list members to read before joining. Mike - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mailing List Etiquette Mailing lists which support free open-source software are communities of real people who help you for free. Mostly these helpers are existing users of the software who feel that they are contributing -- in return for the benefit they get from free open source software. No-one forces anyone to help you on a mailing list. First Requirement Gain attention. To obtain help, you first have to present an interesting problem. What makes an interesting problem? 1. The problem hasn't been seen before. NB: this means you have searched and cannot find the answer in the FAQs or list archives. NBB: if you see "... google is your friend :) ..." it is a gentle way of saying you haven't really tried to find the answer 2. It is easy to follow your description of the problem. If English is not your primary language, the list will definitely make allowances but native English speakers must always use excellent grammar and spelling. 3. You provide enough data, error messages and/or other background info to fill in the gaps and permit an appraisal in a single span of attention 4. The subject line does not contain the word "help" or "HELP" 5. The subject line succinctly summarises your message Second Requirement Be efficient. Use the technology sparingly. All lists have their quirks (see Third Requirement below) which usually stem from the early days when internet bandwidth was precious and most users were roughly equivalent in experience. The current situation is almost reversed. What is perhaps most precious nowadays is the time of the few valuable people who inhabit lists and help many others. The following aspects always help them to help you ... 1. Always send plain text emails. Mailing lists for free open source software are usually anti-fancy-email. Microsoft email users in particular don't usually get their questions looked at because most helpers on most mailing lists set up their filters to automatically trash mail containing HTML. If you don't understand this, just make sure Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, Groupwise or whatever other email client you habitually use is set for plain text. 2. Set out your message with short paragraphs. 3. Never ever use upper case unless you want to be heard SHOUTING. Obviously, when copying and pasting error messages and the like, this does not apply. 4. Emphasise your point(s) sparingly. Better to use fewer words so those you do use are naturally more emphatic. A pair of *asterisks* is read as bold by experienced people even if their mail client doesn't actually make the text bold. Likewise a pair of _underscores_ works too. Use white space and short paragraphs primarily and only resort to bold, underline and exclamation points if really necessary. They usually detract from your message - which is inefficient. 5. Never post messages with attachments. If you have something to attach, resist the temptation. Just mention that it is available off-list if anyone contacts you directly. Third Requirement Don't offend. Put on your guru hat. Imagine that the mailbox has been filling up while you have been away on assignment or out to lunch. There are 500 messages filtered into your various list-subscription mail folders. Fortunately, you are a guru and you are not waiting on an answer to a question of your own. OK - do you read them all? No way. You trash the lot and relax with empty folders. Now the pressure is off and and you can trash incoming list messages one at a time according to your interest in the subject line. Life is good. Have you breached list etiquette? No way. No-one is paying you to plough through tons of poorly written, mis-spelled, obscure nonsense. In fact, if anyone is paying you it will be to attend to their particular problems and not to newbies and ravers who inhabit mailing lists. Put on your newbie hat. If you want helpers to respond to your requests for assistance you have to make it easy for them. Let's say you have presented an interesting problem as per the First Requirement above. You have been careful to use the tools appropriately as per the Second Requirement. Finally, you need to adhere to the finer points of list etiquette. Be aware that these finer points vary somewhat between lists so you need to watch what happens and look for the clues ... 1. Thread hijacking is almost universally hated. If you pick a random message, click [Reply] to get a new message addressed to the list then overtype the subject with a new line and delete the content to start a "new" thread you will be a thread hijacker. This awful practice spoils list organisation and also makes it difficult to follow threads in the archives. Such hijacking evil will be forever revealed by Google. Good mail clients are able to keep threads of postings together so they can be read in context. Experienced users exploit this functionality because it makes for efficient use of their time. If you hijack a thread there will be two immediately negative results ... * your message will appear in the middle of another discussion and will not therefore gain the attention of that portion of list members who are not following that particular thread * your message will be off-topic in that thread and will therefore annoy that portion of list members who are following that particular thread 2. Thread hijacking is half-way reasonable if you deliberately want to hijack it. This is not done frequently. In such a case you would start a new subject line but retain the original in brackets like this "New topic [was: Old Topic]". Always consider starting a new thread before deliberately hijacking one. 3. Top posting is not popular. Top posting is when a reply to a message appears ahead of the original text. Consider the guru just back from holidays who (having unsubscribed before heading to the slopes) re-subscribes. At first glance, the guru sees a comment totally out of context. In order to assist the original poster, the guru has to read back and forth to pick up the context. It is too hard. Much easier to trash the message and see if the next message is more interesting. Don't top-post. If you are replying to a message do so within the flow of the accumulated discussion. Keep your comments and contributions interspersed in context so the message remains both coherent and interesting. Perhaps the only time top posting is reasonable is after a problem is solved and you make a final post to thank those who helped. At that point you are saying something at the top of the message which is actually in context. 4. Snip messages with oft-repeated parts to limit length. A message which has been batted back and forth can contain sections which are no longer interesting and no longer contribute to the context. However, it is impolite to silently chop stuff out. You should indicate with a comment (eg., <snip> ) that something has been snipped. People can go back in the thread to see if they need to refresh their memory. 5. When you reply with a comment inserted in context, add your moniker after your last comment. This means other readers don't have to look further down the message if they have been following the thread. Your name indicates you haven't added anything below. 6. Obviously, you should never flame anyone unless your email persona is totally anonymous and there is no chance of ever being identified. Not to mention ever needing the help of the person you flambéed. You wouldn't do that anyway because you are not an insecure personality who needs to bolster your self-esteem by attacking others. Like the real gurus, you trash rubbish. 7. Always unsubscribe from the list if you enable an auto-reply when you take a vacation. If you forget, others will remember you for a long time. 8. If you care to test tolerance you may ask a question unrelated to the list-purpose. Should you be so bold, correct etiquette is to precede your subject with an off-topic indicator. Busy list members frequently use the off-topic indicator to filter such messages straight to trash. Some lists use [OT], others prefer [Off Topic] at the beginning of the subject line. Some light traffic lists actually encourage such OT messages and levity on Fridays but frown on such things during the week. Watch and learn. 9. Avoid email disclaimers. It is a good idea to use one of the free email offerings such as yahoo, gmail etc and set it up for your list persona without a disclaimer. Disclaimers and/or lengthy signatures take up space and permanently inflate the archives. 10. Sometimes signatures carry mottoes or promote causes which are offensive to some. Best to avoid that. Archives let your young stupidities follow you into old age. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -