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1 <qandaentry id="netiquette">
2 <question><para>What about netiquette?</para></question>
3 <answer><para>Here are some practical points of etiquette.
4 They include only those items that will draw mention if missed.
5 Those who've been around project mailing lists awhile
6 will find the first few obvious.
7 There are less obvious items toward the end.
8 </para>
9 <para>The reasons for these points are omitted for brevity,
10 but rest assured, these guidelines are more than just
11 an individual's personal preference.
12 </para>
13 <para>While the text refers to "the lists" exclusively,
14 it doesn't intend to ignore the news groups
15 that mirror the mailing lists.
16 </para>
17 <para>With that out of the way,
18 here are a couple manners oriented items
19 followed by more "mechanical" stuff:
20 </para>
21 <para>Please remember that it is rude to post questions
22 that are answered in commonly available documentation
23 such as the LFS and BLFS Books, this FAQ, the LFS Hints,
24 the appropriate man pages, the list archives, and Google searches.
25 As long as you can demonstrate that you've made an effort to find the answer
26 and you're not offended by a pointer to documentation,
27 no reasonable person will object to your question.
28 </para>
29 <para>Most of the bothersome flamewars start
30 when a newbie posts an obvious question,
31 is then criticized (even in a kindly manner),
32 and becomes publically offended.
33 Please try to avoid this situation.
34 "Wordlessly" pointing to the exact spot in the documentation is sufficient.
35 If you feel you must criticize,
36 please do it via private email, not on the lists.
37 The same applies to anything else that may become heated.
38 </para>
39 <para>The lists have an international membership so
40 slang of all sorts and idiom are likely to be misunderstood.
41 (Witness the recent discussion of "bootstrapping".)
42 Any mention of profanity, politics, war, or religion (even in signatures)
43 is likely to upset someone somewhere in the world so please avoid them as well.
44 Finally, it is considered polite to post in English
45 since many more people on the lists know it than any other language.
46 </para>
47 <para>Now for the more "mechanical" stuff.
48 </para>
49 <para><emphasis role="bold">Do not post in HTML.</emphasis>
50 If you use Yahoo, Hotmail, or Outlook
51 and haven't turned HTML off, then it is on.
52 If you're using another mail client, please do check before posting.
53 If you don't know how to turn HTML off,
54 see <ulink url="http://www.expita.com/nomime.html"/>.
55 </para>
56 <para><emphasis role="bold">Wrap text at 72 characters.</emphasis>
57 If you do not wish to do this by hand,
58 set your mail client to do it automatically when sending.
59 </para>
60 <para><emphasis role="bold">Reply <emphasis>below</emphasis>
61 quoted text.</emphasis>
62 <!-- XXX: A well formatted example is below. -->
63 Outlook makes this difficult.
64 There is a plugin to fix Outlook at
65 <ulink url="http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/outlook-quotefix/"/>,
66 and one for Outlook Express at
67 <ulink url="http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/"/>.
68 </para>
69 <para><emphasis role="bold">Limit signatures to four lines.</emphasis>
70 </para>
71 <para><emphasis role="bold">Trim quoted text,</emphasis> especially signatures.
72 But <emphasis role="bold">do not trim so that it is confusing
73 to read your reply</emphasis>
74 without consulting the original.
75 </para>
76 <para><emphasis role="bold">Do not click reply
77 unless you're actually replying to a post.</emphasis>
78 Use new, or compose, or whatever your mail client calls it,
79 to ask a new question or start a new thread.
80 Reply sets more than just the subject line
81 and will cause your post to appear in the wrong place
82 unless you're actually answering.
83 </para>
84 <para>The following isn't major, but is useful to know.
85 On the LFS lists, people usually clear the CC field
86 and just mail the list with replies.
87 This is probably not a good idea but is existing practice
88 due to a political situation which is unlikely to change.
89 </para>
90 <!-- XXX: future stuff
92 Be careful to use the correct list.
94 In general, do not reply to spam on the list.
95 If you do find a valid reason to reply,
96 definitely do not quote all of it in your reply.
98 If a thread drifts into general topics,
99 move it to lfs-chat.
101 Remember, every post will be read by more than 500 people.
103 Don't cross-post.
104 Many people are subscribed to more than one list
105 and will just be annoyed to see your post twice.
107 fix this example to include a couple three messages and some code
109 Joe <joe@joe.org> wrote:
110 > Jane <jane@jane.org> wrote:
111 > > Joe <joe@joe.org> wrote:
112 > > >
113 > > > Hi Jane, did you see the new release of the fireworks plugin?
114 > > > It is much faster on x86 machines because someone wrote assembly
115 > > > routines for the worst spots.
116 > >
117 > > No, i didn't see the new fireworks plugin release. Thanks for
118 > > alerting me Joe.
119 > >
120 > > It's nice they're working on the speed. So sad that assembly
121 > > won't work on my laptop :( Maybe i'll find time to work on PPC
122 > > assembly for it next week.
123 >
124 > If you do work on PPC assembly for the fireworks plugin, i'd be
125 > delighted to help.
127 Hey, that's great! I've attached a couple routines. They're rough
128 but i already notice a 10% speedup over the C code. Let me know what
129 you think.
131 Jane
132 - -
133 Jane Doe, Flower Pot Graphics Design http://www.flowerpotgraphics.com/
136 Of particular note is the signature which is separated by "- - ",
137 that's dash-dash-space on a line by themselves
138 (and is difficult to express in xml)
139 and is short. Less than four lines.
141 If you actually want to be read and understood
142 in a high traffic place like the LFS lists,
143 paragraph separation, use of bulleted lists, and general whitespace use
144 are surprisingly critical.
147 -->
148 </answer>
149 </qandaentry>