From eivind Thu Mar 21 16:23:43 2002 Return-Path: Received: (from eivind@localhost) by phoenix.dmnshq.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) id g2LFNQx53475; Thu, 21 Mar 2002 16:23:26 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from eivind) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 16:23:26 +0100 From: Eivind Eklund To: eu-efnet@irc.pp.se Subject: Destructive mail style among list participants Message-ID: <20020321162326.H49443@phoenix.dmnshq.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i Content-Length: 2922 Lines: 57 The mail style on this list is, basically, horrible. If YOU are contributing to the destructive mailstyle (and you probably are, as at least 50% of the mails in the list does), please note the following points: - Personal attacks are destructive. They lead to animosity, as opposed to solving the actual problem. Take very much care to go for the PROBLEM, not the person. Most people here are trying, and it is OK to take up people doing wrong things - but make sure that the discussion is focused on what was done wrong and how to do it right, not on attacking the person that did the wrong thing. - Inserting a reply at the TOP of the mail you are replying to is destructive. This may not be obvious, but if you carefully track how discussions develop, you'll see that they stray a lot more and gets less productive replies when people do top replies. Not replying at the top has been a standard requirement for good netiquette for well over a decade; the fact that there are several broken mail readers (ones that place the signature above the quoted text) out there does not change that. Note that the placement of the cursor above the quoted text is because you are supposed to start trimming quoted material, NOT because you are supposed to start typing. The reason for this ending up destructive is twofold; one is that it remove the focus of the person writing the reply (which should be going through the points raised by the other party). The other is that it makes the reply hard to read, and waste the time of the reader, which is rude. New text goes between and underneath quoted material, in order to keep standard reading order and maximize focus. - Excessive quoting is destructive. It waste the time of the reader, which still is rude, and it lose some focus. Not as destructive as replying at the top, but still destructive. - Not taking the time to use proper grammar and spelling is destructive. This displays a lack of respect for the readers of what you write, and indicate that the contents are not important enough to take the time to express properly. If the contents are not important enough to express properly, it is better if you don't send that mail. Please try to fix your mail style. We have enough problems with running efnet without taking the substantial extra cost associated with people not doing so. If you've not been on well-functioning mailing lists or newsgroups, you may not know how large this cost is. There are very few well-functioning mailing lists/newgroups left after the start of the eternal september, so if you were not actively online before that started (and if "September" in this context doesn't mean anything special to you, you were not) so you can have an informed opinion, please do the experiment of respecting the comments above and see how it helps over a period of time. Eivind.