List etiquette (was: Re: Three Threads Of Squeak)

Gary McGovern garywork at lineone.net
Wed Nov 7 20:27:43 UTC 2001


Except there's normally 60 messages when I check my Squeak email and today
there was only 15, some of which were just flames. I need this list as a
learning tool and can't afford it to degenerate.

I think it was out of order to call Dan Ingalls merely Ingalls and also out
of order to say that Squeak is for manipulating children, I can accept a bit
tongue in cheek talk but I don't think that was.

Regards,
Gary
(PS Tonight I've hired the movie Hannibal ;-))


----- Original Message -----
From: <G.J.Tielemans at dinkel.utwente.nl>
To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 7:26 PM
Subject: RE: List etiquette (was: Re: Three Threads Of Squeak)


> Ted Kaehler said once: "Squeakland is like a zoo, except we put you right
in
> with the animals.."
> Are philosophical stenguns not allowed in this zoo or are the old animals
to
> tired?
> Come on guys and dolls, we all love Squeak, so lets feed it to the
children
> of all ages on all platforms: yes Bill, yours too...
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Gary McGovern [mailto:garywork at lineone.net]
> > Sent: woensdag 7 november 2001 19:53
> > To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> > Subject: Re: List etiquette (was: Re: Three Threads Of Squeak)
> >
> >
> > That's quite right to mention netiquette. Insults, bad
> > manners and flaming
> > spirals don't do anyone any good except the perpetrator of
> > psychological
> > mind games.
> >
> > I think a public apology is due from Justin to Alan Kay, Dan
> > Ingalls and the
> > active people on the list, not for having different ideas but
> > for the bad
> > manners and insults. Nothing has been accomplished except for less
> > constructive participation on the list and bad feelings.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Gary
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bert Freudenberg" <bert at isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de>
> > To: <squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 9:10 AM
> > Subject: List etiquette (was: Re: Three Threads Of Squeak)
> >
> >
> > > On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, Gary Fisher wrote:
> > >
> > > > The "problem" you're seeing is caused not by malicious
> > behavior but by
> > the
> > > > way many email programs handle replies in html
> > >
> > > Those problems can easily be overcome by a little common sense:
> > >
> > > * Don't send HTML mails to the list.
> > > * Don't include everything in a reply, just so much to
> > retain the context.
> > >
> > > If you were never given a proper introduction how to
> > politely use this
> > > medium, it would be a great idea to study the "Mailing List
> > Etiquette",
> > > especially the section about formatting and quoting
> > (attached below).
> > >
> > > -- Bert
> > >
> > > http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/ml-etiquette.html
> > >
> > > Are there any important formatting considerations?
> > >
> > > Visual formatting is very important in a textual medium
> > like email.  If
> > > your postings are poorly formatted, they will be hard to read, and
> > > people will tire of them quickly.  As a result, fewer
> > people will read
> > > what you write to the end, and many will begin to skip your posts
> > > entirely.
> > >
> > > Most importantly, learn to use the enter (or return) key on your
> > > keyboard.  The video display width of many network users is
> > limited to
> > > 80 columns, and text which wraps beyond that length is
> > quite a bit more
> > > difficult to read.  Since your text may be indented when quoted by
> > > others you should keep your lines to a maximum length
> > somewhere below
> > > that point -- around 70 characters is a good target.  There are of
> > > course exceptions, such as wide tables, and long URLs, but
> > the rule is
> > > to keep it well under 80.
> > >
> > > Be careful if you use a program which wraps your posts when you send
> > > them.  If you wrap at a wider column than it does, you may
> > end up with
> > > alternating long and short lines where it wraps one or two
> > words from
> > > each long line, but fails to join them to the next.  If you
> > know that
> > > your software operates this way, you may be best off to simply write
> > > each paragraph as one long line, and let it do all the wrapping.  Be
> > > very sure that this is the case though, as postings that
> > come through
> > > with really long, single line paragraphs are also annoying to read.
> > >
> > > Wrapping at a considerably narrower margin, such as 40 characters is
> > > also more difficult to read, as one must page down much more often.
> > > However, don't be afraid to use blank lines to separate
> > your paragraphs,
> > > and do break your text into paragraphs.  In fact, keeping paragraphs
> > > fairly short is also easier to read; around ten lines is a
> > good upper
> > > limit.
> > >
> > > Be careful when using tabs for indenting, as they will display
> > > differently on other platforms.  Also, avoid control characters and
> > > other fancy visual effects which are likely platform specific.  When
> > > composing (and reading) mail, you're best to stick with a
> > mono-spaced
> > > font (as opposed to proportionally spaced), and avoid anything other
> > > than the most basic text you can use to get your message across.
> > >
> > > When replying, should I quote the previous message?
> > >
> > > Most certainly.  You should always provide some context to
> > your replies
> > > so that people who may not have been following the thread
> > closely, or
> > > who have other things on their minds will easily be able to
> > determine
> > > what you're talking about.
> > >
> > > However, when quoting, be very careful to edit the quoted
> > sections down
> > > to the bare minimum of text needed to maintain the context for your
> > > reply.  There is very little on a mailing list that is more annoying
> > > than paging through a few pages of quoted text only to read
> > a few lines
> > > at the end.  Also be careful that you clearly indicate what
> > text you're
> > > quoting (as opposed to what you're writing), and if
> > possible, cite the
> > > author of the original text.
> > >
> > > If your mail program wants to attach the whole message
> > you're replying
> > > to on the end of your replies, please do not let it do this
> > if you can
> > > possibly avoid it.  It is a good thing to include excerpts
> > from previous
> > > messages with your replies to maintain a logical flow of
> > discussion, but
> > > it is almost always a bad thing to include the entire text
> > of a message
> > > being replied to, be it at the start or end of your reply.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>





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