[Mailman-Users] Reply to list

[Brad Knowles]

At 10:55 PM -0800 2004/02/04, Mark Dadgar wrote:

>>  <http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html>
>
>  This is totally ridiculous.

	Actually, no.

>  The document you reference is a long attempt at rationalizing why
>  we shouldn't bother to try to make mail systems Do The Right Thing.

	The document references a lot of experience that was obtained the 
hard way, where we found that certain types of behaviour on the part 
of mailing lists caused extreme problems for various users.

	Unless you have contrary experience and can prove that the entire 
rest of the Internet no longer functions in this way, I would 
encourage you to listen to this wisdom.

>  The tool should fit the job and not the other way around.

	In an ideal world, yes.  However, this is the real world.

>  The next thing you're goint to tell me is that we should train
>  computer users to not use spaces in file names, because "it
>  makes things hard for the IT guys."

	What if using spaces in file names meant that you could never, 
ever access that file again?  Wouldn't you be pretty upset if someone 
kept sending you these files with long filenames and spaces in them? 
What if your OS vendor was the dominant one on the planet, with 
greater than 90% share of the market, and they did whatever the hell 
they pleased and didn't give a damn about how many problems it might 
cause for you?

	This is precisely the situation that many users find themselves 
in, when it comes to their incredibly badly broken mail systems.

	Where possible, we should avoid going out of our way to make 
their life miserable.

>  It's 2004.  Get over it.

	This is the real world.  Get over it.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

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