[Hijacked "Can't log into Ubuntu"] Re: remaster ubuntu alternate

[Avi Greenbury]

Liam Proven wrote:

> On 4 July 2012 03:42, Ryan Gauger <rtgkid at gmail.com> wrote:
> > If you don't mind my saying so, since no moderators have, I would
> > like to see these types of posts stopped. Can't we all treat each
> > other equally? And top posting is okay
> 
> No, top-posting is *NOT* okay.
> 
> It is specifically banned in the list rules.

It is not specifically banned in the list rules because there are no
hard and fast rules to the list. 

It is, however, probably the largest cause of annoyance on this list
which is an even better reason to not do it. This sort of thread is a
close second, so I'd like these to stop, too - keep reading for
details! :)

We seem to keep spiking at a good signal:noise ratio before dropping
again as a bunch of established subscribers decide to have another
argument. To reiterate, things that are generally accepted as a good
thing to do here are much the same as on any other mailing list. This
includes (but obviously is not limited to):

* Trimmed bottom-posting rather than untrimmed bottom-posting, and that
  rather than any form of top-posting

* Posting in all-plain-text. Some people are quite opposed to the idea
  of sending two-part (HTML and plain) email. I don't think anyone's
  ever expressed a preference for HTML mail.

* Starting a new thread to the list for a new subject. It's easy to get
  wrong, but replying and changing the subject does _not_ do this. The
  only way to do it is to start a brand new email. I would be willing
  to bet that >90% of the people on this list did at some point get this
  wrong on some list.

* Staying on-topic and being nice.

There should be no need for any rules because all that is expected of
anybody is that you act like reasonable human beings and that you talk
about things relating to the name of the list; just be nice to each
other, okay?

More importantly, it's absolutely fine to tell people who are deviating
from the established norms that this is what they are doing. It is
absolutely not fine to tell them off for it. Be informative, assume
they were not acting in malice (maliciously top posting, really?) and
assume that, as a normal, reasonable, human being they probably did not
set out to irritate you specifically by putting their reply in the
'wrong' place.

If you feel there is some real need for discussion about how we're
moderating the list, or you'd like to make some comments, we're all
listening (though, personally, I'm doing rather less typing than I'd
like) and you can send your mail to 

  ubuntu-users-owner at lists.ubuntu.com

To send it to the moderators; it will not be publicly archived. Please,
if you'd like change you need to ask for it. This includes letting us
know if you think someone is repeatedly giving out bad advice - bear in
mind that we may simply not know that what is being said is incorrect!
Calling users out publicly on the list is, generally, not what we want
to see unless you're warning other subscribers about some dangerous
suggestion.

Every mail sent to ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com gets dropped in to
hundreds of mailboxes; please, if you're going to tell people off for
putting their reply in the wrong place, don't put your telling off in
several hundred wrong places in the process. I hate sending these
emails out because I know there's a lot of people subscribing to the
list who don't want to read them, surely that occurs to you every time
you wonder about admonishing somebody for top-posting?

Thanks! Replies to this message should, as you might expect, be
directed to ubuntu-users-owner.

-- 
Avi