Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4020 mails)

["Paul W. Abrahams" <abrahams@xxxxxxx>]

On Thursday 07 October 2004 2:15 pm, Patrick Shanahan wrote:

> > The problem is that the default headers do *not* give the unsubscription 
> > address.   
> 
> You need to qualify that statement.  *Your* *default* headers do not.

I'd say the default headers are the ones that you get if you use Konqueror or 
Mozilla "out of the box", which is how most people use them.  We're talking 
about unsophisticated users here, not aficionados like you, Patrick.  (That's 
a compliment, by the way!)

> You *did* and supposedly everyone who has *subscribed* to this list,
> receive an email advising you the path to obtain help and to unsub upon
> your acknowledgement of your subscription.  I can repost the one I
> rec'd some years ago, if you are interested, but you rec'd the same.

Oh, I know well enough how to unsubscribe.  The problem is those folks who 
can't figure it out and so plague the list with their fruitless attempts at 
it.  

It seems to me that a fundamental principle of user-interface design is that 
you accept people as they are instead of how you think they ought to be.  So 
I'd frame the question like this: the existing unsubscription instructions 
clearly fail to enlighten everyone who is seeking enlightenment.  So is there 
a way to redo either the instructions or their placement so that those who 
are mystified will be mystified no longer?

Paul