SEELANGS Administrivia - (was Re: Careless replies)

[Alex Rudd]

On Fri, 6 Sep 2002 17:00:02 -0400 Richard Robin said:
>I have even tried to get the list owner, Alex Rudd, to change the list's way
>of treating "REPLY," but have been effectively told that REPLY mistakes,
>whether they result in innocent non-sequetors or embarrassing gaffes like
>this afternoon's post, are the responsibility of the sender.

In fairness, I should point out that there's more to it than that.

My intent is not to increase the chances that subscribers will embarrass
themselves publicly.  Instead, it is to increase the chances that SEELANGS
will be used as it was intended, as a discussion list.  If every reply to
each message posted to the list was directed back only to the original
sender, then only senders of original posts to the list would ever see the
many replies.  Where is the utility in that?  This list is about sharing
with each other.

Granted, if I were to alter the default settings such that replies to
SEELANGS posts were sent routinely only to the senders of original
messages, someone wishing to reply to the whole list could override that
default fairly easily.

Honestly, though, how many people 1) are computer literate enough to do
that and 2) pay attention closely enough to notice where replies are
headed and effect the change?

Finding an example of that is simple.  Just look at the recent discussion
of "Rossianin."  Here's the message that began the thread:

--- Begin ---

>>> Posting number 16651, dated 27 Aug 2002 11:44:51
Date:         Tue, 27 Aug 2002 11:44:51 EDT
Reply-To:     chompitichompiti at HOTMAIL.COM
Sender:       Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list <SEELANGS..>
From:         Andrew Jameson <a.jameson at dial.pipex.com>
Subject:      Fw: "Rossianin": QUERY

----- Original Message -----
From: "Manuel de los reyes GarcXa MXrkina" <chompitichompiti at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <RUS-NAT at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 8:29 PM
Subject: "Rossianin": QUERY

  Hi everybody:

   Does anybody know when the ethnonym "Rossianin" (and "rossianka") was
coined? And what difference lies between it and "russkii" (and "russkaia")

   Manuel de los Reyes Garcma Markina
   Postgraduate student
   Universidad Nacional Autsnoma de Mixico

--- End ---

Did anybody actually pay attention to the mail header of that message?
Did anyone read the signature lines?  Did anyone notice the "Fw:" in
the Subject: line?  Did anyone catch the fact that this message was
originally posted to the RUS-NAT list and then forwarded to SEELANGS
by Andrew Jameson?  Did anyone bother to check whether the person who
asked the question, Manuel de los Reyes Garcia Markina, is even a
member of this list?  (He is now... but he subscribed only yesterday,
presumably after someone tipped him off that his query prompted more
than 30 replies, from most of which he was not benefiting.)  In fact,
the "Reply-To:" line in the original message *was* pointed back to
Manuel's own e-mail address.

If you're curious about what happened in that instance, it's this:
Genevra Gerhart very kindly replied to Manuel's message, sending her
reply directly to him.  However, probably thinking her reply might also
interest others on SEELANGS, she copied the list on her reply.  By
default, replies to *her* message were sent back to the list, and that's
why we saw the thread bloom here.

That's not a bad thing.  I suspect many people were interested in the
discussion that evolved here on some level or other.  And since all
posts are archived, Manuel can go back and see what he missed.

My point is only that given the purpose of this list, and given the
average level of knowledge and interest amongst list members in caring
about such esoteric things as mail headers and "Reply-To:" tags, we're
better off putting up with the occassional misdirected on-list reply
than we'd be if we were actively to dissuade replies from being shared
with everyone.

I hope that clarifies my position.

Regards,

- Alex, list owner of SEELANGS    seelangs-request at listserv.cuny.edu
....................................................................
Alex Rudd                ahrjj at cunyvm.cuny.edu            ARS KA2ZOO
{Standard Disclaimer}    http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/

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