Re: how to determine if to reply by CC as well

From: Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: Re: how to determine if to reply by CC as well
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 03:22:29 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87ha19s27e.fsf@debian.uxu> (raw)
In-Reply-To: mailman.7218.1408408231.1147.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org

Bob Proulx <bob@proulx.com> writes:

> It is posted on the web page.
>
>   http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
>
>   Support
>
>   To ask for help with GNU Emacs, use the mailing list
> help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org or the newsgroup gnu.emacs.help.
> The mailing list and newsgroup are linked: messages
> posted on one appear on the other as well.

OK! I see, there is also this page with more details:

https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs

This problem doesn't seem to be mentioned, though.

Now, this is a delicate situation - by mentioning it,
maybe *more* people will start posting without joining?

But, in the spirit of the FSF, perhaps it should be all
spelled out? Like,

"We recommend you to either use the newsgroup, or to
join the mailing list. However, you can also get help
simply by sending questions to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
If you choose to do that, we ask you to mention that
you are not on the list. That way, we can send replies
to your mail as well as to the members of the list."

Excursion: Why do people don't want to join? Probably
because they think their inboxes will be flooded with
stuff they (as beginners) won't understand. I use Gnus
so I don't know, but even for gmail and such, aren't
there ways to split the mail logically into folders,
where 1000 mails are just a non-disturbing one-liner
"help-gnu-emacs(1000)"? Perhaps a link to a guide that
helps you do it for the more common (non-hacker)
clients and web-solutions would help.

Also: "We appreciate if you tell us if we were able to
help you or not. If you didn't get it to work, please
include as much details as possible as to in what ways
your problem remains."

And, this:

    Please don't send bug reports here, or to the
    comp.emacs newsgroup; mail them to
    bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org instead.

I would add: "If you are unsure, but suspect you have
encountered a bug, you are encouraged to report it just
the same."

If you use any of this, of course rephrase as much as
you like.

-- 
underground experts united