Re: PHP RFC # 0001 --- List Etiquette

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On Nov 28, 2007 9:48 AM, Daniel Brown <parasane@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>    Good morning (/afternoon/evening) all;
>
>    This is more or less an RFC-type email, hence the subject line.  I
> would like to see your comments on this case, and maybe we can forge
> some sort of agreement or unofficial treaty or something.
>
>    Oftentimes we see a user post a question to the list, with ongoing
> discussion back-and-forth on a troublesome issue, and when a solution
> is found, the subject line has an added [SOLVED] tag on it.  While
> this makes sense in a forum style arena, where posts are binded
> statically in the same group, it defeats the purpose of mailing list
> archives such as Nabble and GMANE.  A recent email from this morning
> illustrates the problem, as displayed presently at this page:
>        http://www.nabble.com/PHP---General-f140.html
>
>    The email  with the subject "The PHP License" received commentary
> from both Jochem Maas and myself, and the OP (AmirBehzad Eslami)
> replied to the message, appending the [SOLVED] tag to the subject.
> This is not a serious issue in this particular matter, as it was a
> simple thank-you message out of politeness (which is greatly
> appreciated, Amir!).  However, using just a single example should help
> to emphasize my point exponentially when you consider the frequency of
> occurrences we see following the [SOLVED]-appended route.
>
>    On 12 September, 2007, Zbigniew Szalbot posted a message to the
> list about a segmentation fault in PHP 5.2.3.  Over the next 24
> hours-plus, exactly sixty comments passed back-and-forth on the
> thread.  When a solution was found, it was posted in a separate email
> with the [SOLVED] tag added to the subject line, and two additional
> comments added to that (entirely new) thread.
>
>    Why is this such a critical issue?  Because if we hope not to have
> to answer the same questions over and over again, instructing people
> to properly STFW, then we should at least be contributing to proper
> archival and documentation of problems we've successfully solved.
> Using the aforementioned example, we check Google for the same
> problem:
>
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=php+5.2.3+segmentation+fault+core+dumped
>
>    Hooray!  Someone else has had the exact same list of problems, and
> now I can simply go through all of the responses and it should
> (fingers crossed!) correct my issues as well.
>
>    Message 58.... 59.... getting close!.... sixty-one.... WHAT?!?  No
> solution?  Back to Google.... only to find that each result is exactly
> the same discussion, never including the final three emails.
>
>    So the summary of my proposal is as follows:
>
>        1.) An issue has been identified with the list whereby
> improper archival will likely lead to repeat questions and unnecessary
> traffic to the list.
>        2.) I propose that we discontinue the act of subject
> modification to indicate a change in status of the issue (SOLVED,
> ALSO, ANOTHER PROBLEM, etc.) unless a completely different problem is
> reached or question is asked.  This will allow a step-by-step document
> (of sorts) to be created and made "searchable" on the web.
>
>
>
>    Comments welcomed!
>
> --
> Daniel P. Brown
> [office] (570-) 587-7080 Ext. 272
> [mobile] (570-) 766-8107



I haven't checked this mail in several days. So... sorry if this thread is
"defunct". =D

As others have mentioned, the problem is hitting "New" email. Many (Dare I
say "all"? No, no. No I won't.) email clients are smart enough to thread
emails even if the subject has changed (and I know we have discussed that
issue as well). So, hitting "reply" and adding on [SOLVED] *shouldn't* do
anything... theoretically.... to break the thread and start a new one.

Here's the real kicker... how do we enforce your proposed suggestion(s)? As
active as this list is with new people coming regularly, the newer people
won't know these *rules*. Throwing it on the welcome message, IMO, would
only hit the people who read it.... which is probably about 5%. Oh, I have
an idea....... let's have a test! just to get on the list! You have to pass
the test to send/receive messages!

Ok, since it's taken me 30 minutes to write this email (I keep getting
distracted), I'm quitting... Any thoughts?

~Philip

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