On Carbon Copies to the list [was Re: [Usability] The eternal fileselector dilemma :)]

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004, Lemmit Kaplinski wrote:

> Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:23:38 +0300
> From: Lemmit Kaplinski <lemmit kaplinski com>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: Re: [Usability] The eternal fileselector dilemma :)
>
> Hi,
>
> Kalle Vahlman wrote:
>
> >I take that as a request not to, and act accordingly.
> >(the reason was already explained)
> >
> >

> Actually it was just a question. But I usually don't CC anyone who has
> not asked it.

That is the polite thing to do, but if your mail client does not inlcude a
"reply to list"  option (does Evolution?)  it is very easy to be a little
bit lazy and hit "Reply All" and send an extra Carbon Copy.  I'll try to
show a little more restraint in future.

> If one send an email to a list, he or she is clearly interested in
> getting answers.

This list did not always require users to be subscribed and many people do
still post messages without subscribing.  they generally but not always
request to be CC'ed.

Some developers use this list as a dumping ground for discussions about
minor usability details they would rather avoid (although that has been
happening less often).

People who post to the list do want answers but often we want
them (developers) to follow the Human Inteface Guidelines and respond to
usability suggestions more than they particularly want to do so
themselves.

> Considering this is a list which attracts people with (way)
> above-average knowledge of computers, I'd say they are proficient enough
> to subscribe or check the archives. But this is actually irrelevant to
> Gnome, although a usability issue in itself.

yes but some people have very specific knowledge about computers, a good
kernel hacker does not necessarily make a good interface designer.  Even
the smartest developers sometimes ask questions without checking the
archives and even those who try to find answers dont necessarily find the
answers they are looking for.  it seems every list not matter how
technical has people who were able to subscribe but unable to unsubscribe
and need to send "unsubscribe me" posts.


I'll try to be more careful about CC's in future.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/