Subject Lines on the Mailing list: [WAS: Looking for a NH mail list talking about Linux]

[Jon 'maddog' Hall]

>From the viewpoint of one who "pontificates" a lot on the list, I have
also the pain of those who "just" want technical information, and do not
want to join in the "greater discussions", but this issue is not just
"technical' versus "non-technical".

For example, recently people kept using the subject line "Re:
mythtvfest" long after the topic had turned away from the Fest and even
from MythTV, but I did not want to miss any information or questions
having to do with the upcoming MythtvFest.  Every time I saw
"MythtvFest" in the subject line I felt duty-bound to read it, even if
that email had nothing to do with the fest at all.  If the respondents
had changed the subject line after the topic changed, I could have
ignored that subject if I wanted to ignore it, but this takes
discipline, and I admit that I am occasionally guilty of this myself.

Perhaps the "discuss" list should be broken down into two parts:

discuss-tech
discuss-social

with "discuss" simply being the union of the two.  I fear that this
would isolate some of our best minds from legitimate discussions, but
that should be their decision.

maddog