Re: [gentoo-user] Hard to find netiquette, enculturation bug. (Was: Re: [gentoo-user] GNOME: Cant logout and Lock Screen is showing different background from GNOME screensaver)

[Eric Martin]

Mark David Dumlao wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
>
>> Am I the only one here that sees this is a stupid and completely irrelevant
>> thread? HTML mail is like farting when you meet the Queen - you just don't do
>> it. There isn't a rule about it, it's not an exam question and there never
>> was a formal process that came up with it. But if you do start raising one
>> cheek to split the crack and let rip, the butler might come along nicely and
>> ask you not to. At which point you should say "um, gee, thanks, I didn't know
>> that..."
>>
>
> That was a really dumb analogy. It conveniently ignores the problem
> and blows the situation out of proportion. As I said, very many mail
> readers _default_ to html mails, and a significant part of user to
> user contact is happily oblivious to it. It just doesn't come up in
> everyday parlance. Forgive this one seething reaction to your
> uncalled-for ridiculous holier-than-thou attitude, but the Internet
> didn't stop growing 10 years ago.
>
> It doesn't matter that there isn't a formal rule. What matters is
> there is no way to find out about the de-facto rule in one of the
> standard use-cases of a mailing list - which is to just ask a few
> quick questions and filter out any irrelevant topics.
>
A few quick observations:

a) You're probably not going to change the way people perceive html
email on this list

b) just because you don't read all of the threads on this list doesn't
mean you're exempt from them.  There are plenty times that somebody asks
a question and the answer is, "search the archives for XYZ, we already
covered this, and please search before asking".  This is one of those
threads

c) continuing along this line runs the risk of pissing off the very
people who you're asking for help.

I get that you don't like the way things are, but this list is a
community and we all agree to abide by certain rules.  The rules don't
change every time a new person joins the community.  Granted, it would
be nice if the mailing list FAQ said 'No HTML mails and don't top post'
along with the rule on vacation emails.  However, this list isn't the
forum as this is gentoo-*user*; a lot of people here are users and not
devs.  Granted, I know some people here are devs but this is still a
*user* list.

As I was trying to check everything in the thread I read Alan McKinnon's
message (that he just sent) reminding us to stop acting like kids, so
I'm going to stop here.  G'Night all!