Re: [ba-ohs-talk] using mailing lists effectively
Eugene Eric Kim wrote: (01)
> ... I receive extraneous e-mail all the
> time, simply because some people are too lazy to remove my e-mail address
> from a header. So the question is, is this a social problem or a
> technical one? (02)
I think it is in part a matter of habituation, and therefore a product of the
other lists in the world, as well. (03)
Basically, a user needs to able to respond to every list in the same way --
whatever that way is. The response is then quickly entrained, and the
gesture is always rewarded with the expected behavior. (04)
Things go awry when different lists require different responses. It imposes
too great a burden to keep track of the discussion in a list and at the same
time remember which list it is and what the response-gesture is for that
list -- especially if that gesture is at odds with "standard practice", however (05)
it may happen to be defined. (06)
The one thing MS did for the world, happily, was to define an interface
standard. So I can pretty much count on Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V working
in every application. Before they played the 800-lb gorilla, there were
thousands of interfaces, and no standard at all. (07)
The situation is better with respect to lists, but it is reminiscent. One thing (08)
I would LOVE to see is an interface-standards body that gave people a
"stamp of approval" for adhering to a standard. I know I always chose
applications that adhere to the standards I favor. A mechanism that would
help promote interface ubiquity would be highly regarded, by me. (09)
So, I would ask that we think of the problem in terms of the wider context
-- what else is out there, and how do they act. One way to approach that
problem would be get a survey of participants in this list, to find out what
lists they belong to, and what gestures those lists use. What happens when
one chooses reply, reply-all, or other responses on those lists?? (010)
My guess is that we'll see something like a 60-40 split, without any solid
mandate for a standard... (011)