Top-posting, HTML-formatted mail, flaming, shouting and so on, was Re: KUBUNTU

[Clay Weber]

On Sun May 13 2007 2:18:26 pm Myriam Rita Schweingruber wrote:
> Hi Guido, and hi to all topposters, html-ers, flamers, shouters,
> spaghetti-mailers and so on,
>
> Disclaimer: this mail goes to the list admins to raise awareness
>
> On Sunday, 13 May 2007 19.44:35 guido dom wrote:
> > yes, only problem: it is very difficult to accessk to it (read - write)
> > the windows partitions; configuring the /etc/fstab is not easy
> > although Feisty does not start my scanner (a known backens problem) I
> > went back to it.
> > But test Mepis; it is a live cd; no harm done if you do not like it
> > It is based on ubuntu dapper
>
> I know Mepis very well, it was the distribution which (for about 6 month)
> lived on my laptop before I installed the Warty Warthog Beta. Since then
> I'm stuck with Ubuntu :-)
>
>
> My point is: your posting is the one too much:
>
> - First, you use HTML, which usually goes directly to the trash bin as this
> is mostly used by spam mailers and should not be used in mailing lists.
> With 20% spam out of an average 450 mails a day, I really don't need HTML
> code in a mailing list.
>
> - Second: you are top-posting, which almost everybody finds disturbing, as
> it's making the reading far more difficult (one hast first to scroll down
> to see what the original post was, then scroll back to top to read the
> answer). Don't forget that some people get something like several hundred
> mails a day, so I tend to ignore top-posters and HTML-formatted mail as I
> prefer to ignore instead of getting angry about. If you want to be read and
> taken seriously, please don't top post!
>
> - Third: your post is considered to be flaming, which is considered very
> unpleasant, and I choose my words.
>
> - Fourth: Capitals are used for shouting and are not polite. The exceptions
> are jargon abbreviations, like AFAIK, IMHO, and so on.
>
> There are a few guidelines which are considered standard to posting in
> mailing lists around the globe in Free Software mailinglists. Please,
> people, read these and comply, this mailinglist ist really beginning to
> derive! I'm even too tired to give you the links, google fore "Usenet
> guidelines" and read, please read! And learn, learn learn! We all have been
> beginers at one point, but this does not mean that we should behave like
> newbies for the rest of our live!
>
> Folks, this is a Kubuntu mailinglist, so the spirit of Ubuntu should rule
> and make collaboration better, easier and the whole should remain fun for
> everyone. Actually I begin to dislike reading on this very list as,
> especially in the last few weeks, some people just don't behave, don't
> respect the most elementary guidelines and make reading difficult and
> unpleasant.
>
>
> Greets, Myriam
>
> PS. BTW, signatures in e-mails should be marked as so, by -- preceding it.
> See below. And they definitely have nothing to do on top of a mail!

Is where/how you post really all that important? Is it really that hard to 
figure out in many cases? 

If I were to bottom post in many mailing lists where "average joes" post, my 
comments would never be seen. So I top-post there, or start off by 
commenting "My responses are in-line" or something.

I can understand tech support and long threads can get unwieldy, but c'mon! 
Reminding list users of the proper etiquette can definitely be done in a more 
friendly manner! We can come off in a bad light by being so aggressive about 
it, especially with new people who may be afraid of being flamed for not 
asking a question in the correct, proscribed and mandated manner. They may 
leave with a negative opinion on Kubuntu users.

It must be my kmail settings somewhere, but I have never received an html 
message on this list as afar as I can remember, so does the list filter it, 
or are both html and text being sent together by the respective email 
clients? Mine is set to *not* prefer html, and I don't think I have missed 
any messages.


-- 
Clay Weber
http://kubuntuforums.net
http://claydoh.com
http://emacdogsports.com