[wp-hackers] PROPOSAL: Use sunmanagers etiquette to help reduce list S/N ratio

[Doug Stewart]

I don't know how many of you have experience in the Sun/Solaris admin
community, but the Sun Managers list is usually a great place to go to
get information and solutions to your problems
(http://www.sunmanagers.org/).

It is a bit more specialized in its intent than wp-hackers, for
certain, but I believe several of the rules they uphold might be
relevant.

To wit:

======================

1:  This list is NOT moderated!  Every message that is sent to the list
    will be passed on to every member of the list.

2:  Requests to have addresses added or removed from the list should NOT
    be sent to the entire list.  Instead, addresses should be added
    or removed via the web page at http://www.sunmanagers.org
    Similarly, test messages of any sort should not be sent to the list.

[snip]

4:  All responses are to be mailed back to the questioner and are NOT to be
    sent to the entire list.  Any response to a list message sent to the
    list, rather than to the person asking the question, will be deleted
    without notice.  The person who originally asked the question has the
    responsibility of summarizing the answers and sending the entire
    summary back to the list.  When a summary is sent back to the list,
    the word "SUMMARY" should be the first word of the "Subject" line.

5:  Discussions on ANY topic are not allowed and will not be tolerated.
    If you want to discuss something, take it to the appropriate Sun
    newsgroup.

6:  If it is not specifically related to Sun system management, then it
    does NOT belong on this list.  Requests for vendor recommendations
    are tolerated, provided that the hardware in question is something that
    system managers normally purchase.

[snip]

9:  Requests for software (free or otherwise) should be limited to
    software that is directly related to Sun SYSTEM MANAGEMENT ONLY.

10: Read the appropriate manuals BEFORE posting, including the "Read
    This First" documents.  Oftentimes the manuals contain answers for
    common problems.

[snip]

12: A posting to sunmanagers is not a general invitation to email the
    poster -- if you wish to send email to a sunmanagers poster, the email
    you send should be related to the posting, else it will be unsolicited
    email and may be treated like any other unsolicited email (e.g. spam).
    Sunmanagers is not to be used to collect email addresses of people who
    manage Sun systems.  Those who do this not only violate the list's
    policy, but risk seriously offending the very people they are
    attempting to reach.

13: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE...Think before you send a message!  Ask yourself
    "is this really appropriate?"  There are enough other newsgroups
    and mailing lists around to cover the marginal topics.  Perhaps there
    is another forum that is more appropriate?  Check the list of Sun
    specific newsgroups included in the FAQ.  Perhaps your message would
    be more appropriate there?"

======================

I know that's a lot to read through, but the rules are presented in
plain language and might make a very good jumping-off point for a
similar revision of wp-hackers, particularly rules #4 and 13.

What do you all think?  Draw up something similar and post it
prominently on the list page, reference it when folks get out of line,
etc.?

-- 
-Doug

http://literalbarrage.org/blog/