NOTE: I just got on this Emailing List about 3 days ago. In that time,
I've received damn near 200 (repeat, TWO-HUNDRED!!!) Email messages from
this list alone. Since I'm a newbie to the list, I feel that I shouldn't
bother with this email, but since I hate being spammed but do want to be
on the list....well...read on....
These are my suggestions for anybody and everybody on the list to help
keep Spam to a minimum, to help make it so that if someone wants to ignore
a specific thread, but flips thru it anyway just to see if there IS
something they wanna read, etc...
First of all, If someone mails the list with a question, and you decide to
answer that question, ask yourself this question:
Will anyone else on the list _really_ be interested in what I'm emailing
this person about? Is it completely necessary that I mail the list? Is it
something that should be or needs to be put on the list?
If not, then Email JUST THAT PERSON, not the ENTIRE F*CKING LIST!!!
Next...
Although it's much easier to reply to each msg as you read it, it would
greatly reduce spam if you were to read, say, 3-5 msgs in a thread at a
time, copy/paste the parts from each msg with the appropriate "This person
said this:" stuff entered in your mail, and reply to all of those emails
in ONE SINGLE reply, not a dozen!
Next...
If a Thread appears to go on for 5 or more emails, and seems like it'll go
on for a few more, start doing this:
Examine what the thread is actually about, and change the SUBJECT of the
Thread to best fit that thread. Then, if you are going to reply to
something else in that mail, or you are going to include something new or
some code-related stuff to that mail, add something saying so in the
subject field so that if someone wants to skip over a thread, but wants to
know if there's _other_ information talked about in that message, then
they can look at the subject field and decide whether or not they should
bother reading it.
Too many times people just reply to the list, and forget to alter the
Subject field when they probably should.
Adding an "Ob/Circle" thing or whatever within the body is all fine and
dandy, but if someone doesn't want to read a specific thread, and you
stick that in, and it was something that they wanted to read, they may
skip the message, and not read it. So by including a
"[SPAMMY-THREAD-QUINN] & [Non-Quinn-Related-Stuff-Too] & [CODE! IMAGINE
THAT!]" in the Subject field, it'll make people think about actually
reading it when they'd normally just hit the delete key.
Finally, if it is something pointless, don't send it to the list....
In my honest opinion, this email was not pointless. However, if I see more
than one or two replies to this Email that are actually SENT TO THE LIST
ITSELF saying "that's a good idea, you should abide by it", I may kill
some people, starting with whomever started the whole Quinn Thread, and
the whole CircleMUD Design thread, as both have been going on for too many
emails, and neither I am interested in.
Thank you, and have a nice day!
Knite Hawk
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