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Re: Newbies
On Thu, 24 Oct 1996, Amos Shapira wrote:
> I suggested in the past to mail a copy of the FAQ or a pointer to
> it with each subscription confirmation.
The problem with the FAQ copy is that the initial mailing should be short
(about one screen) and concise or people won't read it. Another
(technical) problem is that we need an ASCII version of it, and currently
it's HTMLized.
> I don't know what is sent to a new subscriber, but now I'd suggest
> something new - have a note at the end of the "welcome" commands
> telling new subscribers to confirm that they read that message
> completly.
>
> A person will be allowed to mail to the list only after sending a
> message saying that he indeed read the entire subscription
> instructions (one possible technical way - subscribe people to the
> list only after such a note was accepted, and make the list allow
> only members to post to it, should prevent unwanted advertising too).
1. We didn't have much of a problem from unwanted advertising yet, have we?
2. I don't beleive in idiot-proof systems, which guide the user to do
what the designers want and only that. We know that we can theoretically
kill 100% of newbie questions that way, but it would be very annoying
(for new subscribers) and damaging (to other discussions on the list,
people will be afraid to post). I would be satisfied if we kill 70% of
newbie questions, parhaps with mailing an introductory message with
susbscription (as we do now) and mailing an ASCII version of the FAQ once
a month (new subscribers will usually pay more attention to mail, and
therefor hopefully read the FAQ the first time it appears in the list
after they subscribe). What do you think?
Just a note about the current welcome message, we are in the process of
improving it. It currently says a bit about the list, has a pointer to
the web site and has posting guidelines. However, we are still improving
it (no final version yet) - currently with the help of Omer Zack. We will
post the message to the list once we are happy with it.
[You know, guys, that I usually don't post without at least three
subjects to discuss... so here goes]
About Dr. Andrey's letter:
1. The issue of having two seperate lists has been discussed and dropped
time and time again. We do not encourage such a discussion as it was
already held several times with the same results.
2. Implementing majordomo 1.94's Taboo feature - I don't think it's a
good idea. We already have 'innocent' mails help up at my mailbox every
once in a while because they contain majordomo commands (such as 'help').
What will you put in as Taboo regular expressions? You will never be able
to cover it all, and nobody wants to force censorship about discussion
topics.
[And here goes the third subject...]
Will someone [Roji? Ira?] tell those of us that couldn't make it and
those of us from other cities about the party? Include anecdotes,
impressions, recommendations for other parties etc...
Regards,
Ariel
--
Ariel Nowersztern Systems Programmer reln@cs.huji.ac.il
Finger for GCode v3.1 Check out http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~reln/
"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it." -- Napoleon Bonaparte
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