On Sun, Apr 13, 2003 at 10:04:48PM -0500, Ed Wilts wrote: > On Sun, Apr 13, 2003 at 09:11:07PM -0400, Jeff Kinz wrote: > > It shouldn't be. Cross posting has been around almost as long as the > > internet itself. Twenty plus years. It has long been a supported and > > accepted practice on Usenet in mailing lists. > > As an old fart who has been active on Usenet since the mid-80s (and Hi Ed, As an "even older fart", I don't think years of Usenet use are the deciding factor here but I have been using it longer than that. > let me clarify that Usenet is unrelated to mailing lists. Let me clarify it further: Usenet and mailing lists are not the same thing but they serve the same function - one to many communication and one to many responses. The goals are very similar: Sharing information and knowledge, getting answers to questions quickly. > For many years, it was nearly impossible to > figure out where to e-mail an article to get it posted on Usenet. NNTP > was, and still is, the protocol to use. NNTP does not equal e-mail. True, but which protocol is used to transmit the information does not matter. What matters is: "Is it done?" and it is. > The significant difference between cross-posting on Usenet is that the > server typically held only a single copy of the article with links to > each newsgroup the article was referenced in. With e-mail lists, the > user will receive multiple copies. For those on slower dial-up lines or > who have metered service, this adds delays and/or costs. You are absolutely correct about this and so any one who does venture to cross post should not do so frivolously. "Be flexible in what you accept, and careful in what you transmit" ( translated from one of the RFC's on SMTP.) It applies to many aspects of the internet. > By forcing people to filter out the cross-postings, you could have a > tendency to aggravate the listeners. If traffic gets excessive for me, > I just drop the list and people who might have received an answer from > me will suffer. I tend to answer a lot more postings than I ask so the > net effect is that the audience will suffer more than me. Same for me, Ed. But I haven't seen much crossposting that was not appropriate or bothersome in the RedHat lists. Currently RedHat general and RedHat install both get a great deal more traffic then any of the release specific lists. Most of it IS release specific, but the folks posting either don't know that or don't know about the release specific lists. > > > Cross-posting is rude > > When it is done abusively, otherwise its a normal email practice. > > It's definitely not normal. In the vast majority of cases, you should > be able to figure out where the posting should go. heh - you haven't been over in RedHat-install much lately, have you?. :-) Anyone new to the whole idea of UNIX/Linux/RedHat is going to be shotgunning questions anywhere they think they might get help. In RedHat general and Redhat Install We make it a point to welcome the newbies and NOT flame them. (We only flame non-newbies :-) ) Instead we try to politely bring them up to speed. This has worked incredibly well so far. > be able to figure out where the posting should go. In many cases, it > probably doesn't matter if you post to redhat-list or shrike-list for > RHL 9 questions, but in most cases you have no reason to post to both. Except that you will reach a wider set of people that may have the answer to your question.. Remember the RedHat lists exist to get questions answered. Not to make the people like me who get some fun and satisfaction out of providing the answers with an irritation-free experience. > Cross-posting ranks right up there with spam. Absurd. ( is not. is too. is not. is too. bleh! Lets have a better discourse than simply stating extreme opinions ) > > > > Since the person asking the question generally cannot tell if the problem is > > > > release specific it makes no sense for them to restrict the posting to a > > > > list-specific release. > > If you don't know for sure if it's a shrike question or a general > question, and you're running shrike or want to upgrade from psyche to > shrike, then you should probably post to the shrike list. Possibly true, but from the level of traffic most people either don't know this or don't follow it. The great majority of questions are posted to RedHat General and RedHat Install. > > > > > Also many of the folks who are on the RedHat general > > > > list are very happy to learn about release specific issues there. > > Then follow the release-specific lists. If I don't care about 7.3 or > 8.0 issues, I shouldn't have to read all about them on redhat-list. But you do all the time, Most of the people on RedHat general are using RH 7.x or Rh 8. > They should be on valhalla or psyche. Make it ugly for people on > redhat-list and membership will drop. Current trends on that list indicate that it will continue to grow. > > Just say no to cross-posting on e-mail lists. How about - cross post very carefully and never cross post just out of habit? Cross posting can be a useful tool for people in need, and thats why we are here. -- Jeff Kinz, Open-PC, Emergent Research, Hudson, MA. jkinz@xxxxxxxx copyright 2003. Use is restricted. Any use is an acceptance of the offer at http://www.kinz.org/policy.html. Don't forget to change your password often.
