[mythtv-users] Replying to mailing lists

Joseph Fry joe at thefrys.com
Tue Nov 12 07:47:00 UTC 2013


> On a list about open source software (or indeed any list where the
> information purveyed is likely to help more than just the immediate
> participants) I find 'off list' discussions particularly galling. The
> number of discussions I have seen about windows drivers that go off
> list and we never see the answer!

Agreed 100%... when the discussion may be of interest to others in the
future, it shouldn't be taken off list.  But there are many lists that
aren't technical in nature.  For example I set one up for my
homeowners association, and I was torn between munging or not.  On one
hand, munging encourages public discussions... on the other, it will
lead to people sending things to the list that they didn't intend,
things that may cause tension between neighbors or whatever.

For example, say someone posts a rant about people littering, and a
neighbor replies "I know what you mean, I've watched so and so do it
several times, I'm gonna start bagging it up and dump it on their lawn
one night."  Followed by "oops that wasn't supposed to go to
everyone".  Then in response "your gonna do what to my lawn..."  Ive
seen VERY similar situations happen with munged mailing lists in the
past.

I wish the RFC would have just specified that mail clients must detect
when munging is used and confirm the users intent with a message
saying "this reply will be sent to the entire "Discussion about
Mythtv" list, send or cancel".  The client can then have a checkbox
that says "always for this list".


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