[Systems] Mailmain configuration

[Bernie Innocenti]

When I get an off-list reply and the content isn't personal or otherwise
sensitive, I start my reply with "Did you mean to respond to everyone on
the list?".

In many cases, newcomers *intentionally* choose to reply privately
because they're uncomfortable speaking in public (a light social
anxiety). That's why I don't directly add back the list without asking
them first.

It's not possible to configure mailing lists in a way that satisfies all
common usecases, and since users tend to get used to the way the list
has always worked, if we change it we'll anger many of the existing
subscribers.

Note that individual list administrators *can* change this setting
themselves. So perhaps lists oriented towards non-technical users could
be configured to reply-to-list by default without the system's team
approval. But then... wouldn't that be even more confusing for users who
subscribe to multiple SL lists?

Instead of micro-optimizing mailman2, let's work on a longer-term
solution: migrate to mailman3 and offer non-technical users a friendly
web interface to post to the lists.


On 04/20/2016 01:37 AM, James Cameron wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2016 at 11:04:34PM -0400, Dave Crossland wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> On 11 April 2016 at 23:22, Dave Crossland <[1]dave at lab6.com> wrote:
>>
>>     On 11 April 2016 at 20:28, Chris Leonard <[2]cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com>
>>     wrote:
>>
>>         most of us are pretty used to the way things are, not that is a
>>         super good reason
>>
>>     Respectfully I think it is a bad reason; the community has
>>     shrunk over the last few years, and I think making it better for
>>     potential newcomers is essential. 
>>
>> I want to reaffirm my proposal to reconfigure the lists, as our
>> newest/ prospective community member also just fell into the
>> reply-only-to-sender pothole :/
> 
> It was also you missing that the reply was private.  Change your
> mailer to highlight such replies; you can handle them better, and give
> guidance.
> 
> My mailer marks private replies and de-emphasises them, so that I
> concentrate on the public discussion to the exclusion of any private
> discussion.  Because I don't like private messages; they lose
> transparency.
> 
>> Does anyone on the systems team support changing the mailman reply
>> configuration?
> 
> I remain unconvinced.
> 
> But there was a missed opportunity to give guidance at subscription
> time, so I've edited the introduction message;
> 
> "Note: when you get a post and press reply, the reply will go to
> poster and not the list; please use reply-all or reply-to-group when
> you want your reply to be public."
> 
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> 


-- 
 _ // Bernie Innocenti
 \X/  http://codewiz.org