Formatted vs. plain text mail (was: Call for testing the new dist-upgrade process)

[Shawn McMahon]

On Tue, Mar 14, 2006 at 12:29:14AM +0200, Alan McKinnon said:
> 
> Most users who transgress the rules will fix it if it's pointed out to 
> them, an auto-message handles that nicely. There will always be that 
> small percentage that don't listen, and need something more <ahem> 
> direct.

Everybody here has seen what happens on mailing lists when you try the
current approach, I.E. ignore it until it happens and then ask politely
that they stop.  It appears to be working pretty well here, and the
other approach works pretty well too, so I won't argue either side in
this.  However, I will provide a data point that most here haven't seen.

My domain name is very close to that of a popular American talk radio
host who is syndicated nationally.  A small number of his listeners get
his email address wrong and attempt to send him email via my domain.
It's varied over time, but currently it's around half a dozen a week.

For a time, my email was a lashup whereby any undeliverable mail went to
me.  During that time, I had an autoresponder set up that would politely
bounce the message back with a note explaining their confusion, and
providing a link to the correct email address.

The vast majority of those who received this did not respond to it.  A
few responded thanking me.  Twor or three got angry and attempted to
start an argument, and none of those persisted beyond the first email.
On the whole, I'd say this approach worked for this particular
circumstance.

I think our users would probably be even less likely to respond to what
appears to be an automated message, and even less likely to respond
poorly to it.  They'd be more likely to just make note of the rule and
configure their mailer appropriately.  Make of this information what
you will.


-- 
   Shawn McMahon    | Ubuntu: an ancient African word meaning "I am sick
   EIV Consulting   | of compiling Gentoo".
 http://www.eiv.com |                       - Jeff Waugh (paraphrased)
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