[Catalyst] The Netiquette thread (OT)

[Simon Wilcox]

On 28/4/09 09:59, Ian Wells wrote:
> Top posting is bad.
> 
> Bottom posting is bad.

Actually, it's mostly the inconsistency that's bad. I'm on several lists 
that work just fine with top posting.

> These are the basics of old-fashioned usenet netiquette, of which
> there are more comprehensive guides elsewhere.  But if you take in
> these two points, all our current problems will end.

People coming to open source and email lists from a corporate 
environment will not be familiar with this, we ought to take more time 
to educate people on the whys of using the usenet style. It really isn't 
at all obvious to people used to corporate email.

> If you want to be helped, you'll get more sympathy from the people
> with the knowledge you need if you follow these guidelines.

Agreed !

> If you are offering help, I assume you want to aid the community, and
> driving people away from the mailing list with petty annoyances is not
> going to achieve that.

Most certainly true. Be liberal in what you accept and strict in what 
you send. Or as my dear old mother used to say "if you can't think of 
anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" :-)

S.