get rid of OT

[rikona]

Hello Amedee,

Your email came sort of jumbled together - I will try to sort it, but
let me know if I didn't get it right. I'll try to reply after what I
think you said in your last email.

Sunday, October 2, 2011, 7:05:39 AM, Amedee wrote:

>                    On 1/10/2011 3:30, rikona wrote:            Hello
> Amedee,  Friday, September 30, 2011, 8:47:51 AM, Amedee
> wrote:                  On Thu, September 29, 2011
> 21:57, rikona wrote:
>        Because right now, there is no good alternative
> [maybe], and people don't redirect folks to someplace
> else. If we do use moderation, which seems inevitable,
> the moderation could shift traffic to an actual OT
> list. Might be worth a try, and is MUCH better than
> getting this quite useful list shut down.
>                           That does not work. I have
> tried it in the past, by manipulating the reply-to
> header so that replies went to sounder, but that only
> worked for people who replied to my email.
>   What I was proposing is to change all the headers -
> no reference to this list all refs to the OT list.
> Ideally, this would be done by list members, not
> moderators, but could be done by moderators too.
>   When the email is already sent, it is too late to
> change the     headers.

We still seem to be thinking about this in different ways re when, how
and who changes headers.

>             To review a bit - when an OT email arrives, send TWO replies.
> (1) says 'my reply will be on the OT list' and nothing else.
> This email is sent to the ubuntu-users list and includes the
> link to subscribe, to make it as easy as possible to go there.
>          That's just as bad as spam, in my opinion.

It is putting the sender on notice that the topic should be moved to
the other list. For everyone else it is spam, of a sort.

>             (2) is the actual reply and goes only to the OT list.
> Which will be ignored. See also: bikeshed.

If the list is moderated, as was suggested, and the topic is NOT moved
to the other list, then folks sending *multiple* replies on the same
OT topic can be 'moderated'. If the list IS moderated, this is a
gentler way of doing it compared to just banning someone. The idea is
to have another place to continue OT discussions. Bikeshed is a flop -
few use it because they can easily continue OT stuff here - and, there
is practically no traffic there. Right now, it does not offer much to
anyone, so nobody joins.

If the above were done a number of times, more people would move to
the OT list. When the OT list is better populated, with multiple
ongoing discussions, it will be better accepted as a place to go for
OT discussions. With enough members, it will generate discussions on
its own.

This was done with Mandrake and WORKED WELL. Their OT list has, in
fact, outlasted them, and still has a fair amount of traffic. :-)

The above is a *process*, not an all-in-one technical solution.

It's a bit like the 'don't top post' messages. Those are also spam, by
your definition. What they do is try to get the sender to do something
different. The above process is somewhat similar.

>             ALL direct replies not to the OT list also get the same
> treatment.  Perhaps a script guru could automate this a bit.
> :-) That would help all of us a LOT.            I can't see
> how you would gain access to >5K mailboxes when an OT     mail
> has already been sent.

You don't need to do that. Again we are thinking about this in
different ways. When we are thinking the same way, then we can discuss
what the script might do to help.

I hope I got the de-jumble right. :-)

-- 

 rikona