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diff --git a/docs/MAIL-ETIQUETTE b/docs/MAIL-ETIQUETTE new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b6c0f452 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/MAIL-ETIQUETTE @@ -0,0 +1,265 @@ + _ _ ____ _ + ___| | | | _ \| | + / __| | | | |_) | | + | (__| |_| | _ <| |___ + \___|\___/|_| \_\_____| + +MAIL ETIQUETTE + + 1. About the lists + 1.1 Mailing Lists + 1.2 Netiquette + 1.3 Do Not Mail a Single Individual + 1.4 Subscription Required + 1.5 Moderation of new posters + 1.6 Handling trolls and spam + 1.7 How to unsubscribe + 1.8 I posted, now what? + + 2. Sending mail + 2.1 Reply or New Mail + 2.2 Reply to the List + 2.3 Use a Sensible Subject + 2.4 Do Not Top-Post + 2.5 HTML is not for mails + 2.6 Quoting + 2.7 Digest + 2.8 Please Tell Us How You Solved The Problem! + +============================================================================== + +1. About the lists + + 1.1 Mailing Lists + + The mailing lists we have are all listed and described at + http://curl.haxx.se/mail/ + + Each mailing list is targeted to a specific set of users and subjects, + please use the one or the ones that suit you the most. + + Each mailing list have hundreds up to thousands of readers, meaning that + each mail sent will be received and read by a very large amount of people. + People from various cultures, regions, religions and continents. + + 1.2 Netiquette + + Netiquette is a common name for how to behave on the internet. Of course, in + each particular group and subculture there will be differences in what is + acceptable and what is considered good manners. + + This document outlines what we in the cURL project considers to be good + etiquette, and primarily this focus on how to behave on and how to use our + mailing lists. + + 1.3 Do Not Mail a Single Individual + + Many people send one question to one person. One person gets many mails, and + there is only one person who can give you a reply. The question may be + something that other people are also wanting to ask. These other people have + no way to read the reply, but to ask the one person the question. The one + person consequently gets overloaded with mail. + + If you really want to contact an individual and perhaps pay for his or her + services, by all means go ahead, but if it's just another curl question, + take it to a suitable list instead. + + 1.4 Subscription Required + + All curl mailing lists require that you are subscribed to allow a mail to go + through to all the subscribers. + + If you post without being subscribed (or from a different mail address than + the one you are subscribed with), your mail will simply be silently + discarded. You have to subscribe first, then post. + + The reason for this unfortunate and strict subscription policy is of course + to stop spam from pestering the lists. + + 1.5 Moderation of new posters + + Several of the curl mailing lists automatically make all posts from new + subscribers require moderation. This means that after you've subscribed and + send your first mail to a list, that mail will not be let through to the + list until a mailing list administrator has verified that it is OK and + permits it to get posted. + + Once a first post has been made that proves the sender is actually talking + about curl-related subjects, the moderation "flag" will be switched off and + future posts will go through without being moderated. + + The reason for this moderation policy is that we do suffer from spammers who + actually subscribe and send spam to our lists. + + 1.6 Handling trolls and spam + + Despite our good intentions and hard work to keep spam off the lists and to + maintain a friendly and positive atmosphere, there will be times when spam + and or trolls get through. + + Troll - "someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages + in an online community" + + Spam - "use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk + messages" + + No matter what, we NEVER EVER respond to trolls or spammers on the list. If + you believe the list admin should do something particular, contact him/her + off-list. The subject will be taken care of as good as possible to prevent + repeated offenses, but responding on the list to such messages never lead to + anything good and only puts the light even more on the offender: which was + the entire purpose of it getting to the list in the first place. + + Don't feed the trolls! + + 1.7 How to unsubscribe + + You unsubscribe the same way you subscribed in the first place. You go to + the page for the particular mailing list you're subscribed to and you enter + your email address and password and press the unsubscribe button. + + Also, this information is included in the headers of every mail that is sent + out to all curl related mailing lists and there's footer in each mail that + links to the "admin" page on which you can unsubscribe and change other + options. + + You NEVER EVER email the mailing list requesting someone else to get you off + the list. + + 1.8 I posted, now what? + + If you aren't subscribed with the exact same email address that you used to + send the email, your post will just be silently discarded. + + If you posted for the first time to the mailing list, you first need to wait + for an administrator to allow your email to go through. This normally + happens very quickly but in case we're asleep, you may have to wait a few + hours. + + Once your email goes through it is sent out to several hundred or even + thousand recipients. Your email may cover an area that not that many people + know about or are interested in. Or possibly the person who knows about it + is on vacation or under a very heavy work load right now. You have to wait + for a response and you must not expect to get a response at all, but + hopefully you get an answer within a couple of days. + + You do yourself and all of us a service when you include as many details as + possible already in your first email. Mention your operating system and + environment. Tell us which curl version you're using and tell us what you + did, what happened and what you expected would happen. Preferably, show us + what you did in details enough to allow others to help point out the problem + or repeat the same steps in their places. + + Failing to include details will only delay responses and make people respond + and ask for the details and you have to send a follow-up email that includes + them. + + Expect the responses to primarily help YOU debug the issue, or ask you + questions that can lead you or others towards a solution or explanation to + whatever you experience. + + If you are a repeat offender to the guidelines outlined in this document, + chances are that people will ignore you at will and your chances to get + responses will greatly diminish. + + +2. Sending mail + + 2.1 Reply or New Mail + + Please do not reply to an existing message as a short-cut to post a message + to the lists. + + Many mail programs and web archivers use information within mails to keep + them together as "threads", as collections of posts that discuss a certain + subject. If you don't intend to reply on the same or similar subject, don't + just hit reply on an existing mail and change subject, create a new mail. + + 2.2 Reply to the List + + When replying to a message from the list, make sure that you do "group + reply" or "reply to all", and not just reply to the author of the single + mail you reply to. + + We're actively discouraging replying back to the single person by setting + the Reply-To: field in outgoing mails back to the mailing list address, + making it harder for people to mail the author only by mistake. + + 2.3 Use a Sensible Subject + + Please use a subject of the mail that makes sense and that is related to the + contents of your mail. It makes it a lot easier to find your mail afterwards + and it makes it easier to track mail threads and topics. + + 2.4 Do Not Top-Post + + If you reply to a message, don't use top-posting. Top-posting is when you + write the new text at the top of a mail and you insert the previous quoted + mail conversation below. It forces users to read the mail in a backwards + order to properly understand it. + + This is why top posting is so bad: + + A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read + text. + Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? + A: Top-posting. + Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail? + + Apart from the screwed up read order (especially when mixed together in a + thread when someone responds using the mandated bottom-posting style), it + also makes it impossible to quote only parts of the original mail. + + When you reply to a mail. You let the mail client insert the previous mail + quoted. Then you put the cursor on the first line of the mail and you move + down through the mail, deleting all parts of the quotes that don't add + context for your comments. When you want to add a comment you do so, inline, + right after the quotes that relate to your comment. Then you continue + downwards again. + + When most of the quotes have been removed and you've added your own words, + you're done! + + 2.5 HTML is not for mails + + Please switch off those HTML encoded messages. You can mail all those funny + mails to your friends. We speak plain text mails. + + 2.6 Quoting + + Quote as little as possible. Just enough to provide the context you cannot + leave out. A lengthy description can be found here: + + https://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html + + 2.7 Digest + + We allow subscribers to subscribe to the "digest" version of the mailing + lists. A digest is a collection of mails lumped together in one single mail. + + Should you decide to reply to a mail sent out as a digest, there are two + things you MUST consider if you really really cannot subscribe normally + instead: + + Cut off all mails and chatter that is not related to the mail you want to + reply to. + + Change the subject name to something sensible and related to the subject, + preferably even the actual subject of the single mail you wanted to reply to + + 2.8 Please Tell Us How You Solved The Problem! + + Many people mail questions to the list, people spend some of their time and + make an effort in providing good answers to these questions. + + If you are the one who asks, please consider responding once more in case + one of the hints was what solved your problems. The guys who write answers + feel good to know that they provided a good answer and that you fixed the + problem. Far too often, the person who asked the question is never heard of + again, and we never get to know if he/she is gone because the problem was + solved or perhaps because the problem was unsolvable! + + Getting the solution posted also helps other users that experience the same + problem(s). They get to see (possibly in the web archives) that the + suggested fixes actually has helped at least one person. + |