[vdr] Mailing List Etiquette

[Clemens Kirchgatterer <clemens@thf.ath.cx>]

This is the 'official' vdr-mailing-list-etiquette-reminder. 
Please take this as a serious advise. The VDR mailinglist is
getting quite large and it shouldn't become a pain in the ass to follow.
Take the time to read it, especially if you are new to mailinglists in
general.


E-mail formatting
=================

Mailing list email should fit the following criteria:

DO
--
* Trim quoted material to the minimum needed to clarify what you're
  talking about.
* Add a blank line *before* each quote for better readability.
* Make sure you are attributing material to the correct person 
  (i.e. make sure the "On 19/07/2002, Joe Bloggs said:" is correct)
* Write your responses *after* the quoted text, not before. If your
  mail client makes it difficult to do this, get a new one.
* Make sure lines are wrapped at 76 characters (to fit an 80 character
  wide screen).
* Use a descriptive subject! A message titled "A small wish"
  doesn't tell what it is about. Better use something like
  "should do xyz" or "crashes when doing xyz".
* Always write one separate message per topic. any people (especially
  those who matter) will not read mixed-up and lengthy threads.
* Start a new thread when posting a new subject.
* Make emails as short as possible whilst keeping them comprehensible.

Don't
-----
* Post in either HTML-only or in Text and HTML. If your mail client
  doesn't support not doing this, please change it.
* Top post.
* Give a one line answer having quoted the whole post.
* Use a too long signature.
* Reply where you should start a new thread.
* Break threads by sending a new mail, where you should have replied.


General Etiquette
=================

This can really be summed up in one phrase - 'be polite'.  

Allways use your 'Real Name' when posting to mailinglists or newsgroups.

If you think something is off-topic, don't reply to the list although 
you may want to send a short and *polite* note to the person privately 
telling them which list would be more appropriate; don't just say - 
"that is OT here".

If someone flames or trolls the list, don't reply - it wastes everyones
bandwidth.

Don't reply to spam which gets through to the list - just ignore it when
it does.

Resources
=========

* The ultimate guide to most matters to do with email etiquette is
  RFC-2822 which can be found at: 

  ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2822.txt

* A german site set up by some usenet-people, who take it even more
  serious with netiquette.

  http://learn.to/quote


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