On Mon, Jun 09, 2003 10:10:27 at 10:10:27AM -0500, Patrick Shanahan (WideGlide@FastMail.fm) wrote:

Threading is very important and desirable in a *support* list, especially one which is archived/searchable. It provides the means to find answers to problems immediately, without waiting for someone on the list to repeat a previously discussed issue, and, perhaps, flame you for not attempting the research yourself. Broken threads make that research *very* difficult. It's like someone tearing several random pages from a research book and placing them in different locations or just destroying them.

Have you ever read a mystery book and found that the last 3 or 4 pages were missing?

Amen to that! Thanks to Patrick for reminding the real reasons to avoid and fight broken threading!! Ciao, Marco Fioretti -- Marco Fioretti m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it Red Hat for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/en/ There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi

On Mon, Jun 09, 2003 11:49:54 at 11:49:54AM -0400, Bruce Marshall (bmarsh@bmarsh.com) wrote:

And thanks to all of you who waste more bandwidth trying to keep threads in alignment and NOT on the main purpose of this list...........

I don't know about Patrick, but personally, I waste much more (PAID per MINUTE!) bandwidth and reading time on broken threads than because of spam. DAILY, and for the very same reasons that Patrick explained! Spam is easily stoppable with the right setup, info hidden by broken threads (=human stupidity/ignorance/carelessness/whatever) can be stopped (even theoretically) only explaining why it is bad. Making helpful information easily reachable, ie keeping threads in alignment, should be the very *first* effort, if not the main purpose, of any support list. Of course, this is the last list message on this issue by me (until someone screws it up again :-) ). Ciao, Marco Fioretti -- Marco Fioretti m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it Red Hat for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/en/ I doni ricevuti dal Padreterno, servono se utilizzati: chi li contempla gode, ma chi ne fa uso probabilmente aiuta altri a godere.

On Monday 09 June 2003 18.10, M. Fioretti wrote:

...

Of course, this is the last list message on this issue by me (until someone screws it up again :-) ).

If someone does, and you feel the irresistible urge to correct it, do it *off list*. There is absolutely no reason to waste more bandwidth by creating yet another thread on netiquette. History has proven that it doesn't do any good anyway. The only person likely to read it and be corrected by it is the person you're flaming, so you'll get the *exact* same result by correcting him off list

Actually I think the correction should be made on list. Until somebody corrected somebody else about thread-breaking, I had done it a few times myself. I was educated by reading the thread that broke out between the other guy and the irritated "broken thread" police. Posting on list can be educational about the issue. -Jim-

* Anders Johansson [06-09-03 11:10]:

On Monday 09 June 2003 18.10, M. Fioretti wrote:

...

Of course, this is the last list message on this issue by me (until someone screws it up again :-) ).

If someone does, and you feel the irresistible urge to correct it, do it *off list*. There is absolutely no reason to waste more bandwidth by creating yet another thread on netiquette. History has proven that it doesn't do any good anyway. The only person likely to read it and be corrected by it is the person you're flaming, so you'll get the *exact* same result by correcting him off list

There are *many* repeated threads on subjects other than netiquette that could be construed as to 'waste more bandwidth'. At least this action has the potential to improve the list environment. Why would only the concerned party read the post? Why is providing information *flaming*, even if it is instructional? In the case you present, I believe that you reach false conclusions. -- Patrick Shanahan Please avoid TOFU and trim >quotes< http://wahoo.no-ip.org Registered Linux User #207535 icq#173753138 @ http://counter.li.org Linux, a continuous *learning* experience