D&C GNU/Linux User Group

Thank you for taking the time to view the page of common mistakes made by mailing list members (we have all made them). The aim of this document is to improve the use of the mailing list by its members, for all other members.

Lets start with what not to do by examples:

• The mailing list is subscribed to, by more than two people. Therefore, if you are communicating with one or two people, and you are able to find their addresses, mail them DIRECTLY and not through the mailing list. Here are some examples of what we all do not want to see:
  • http://www.dcglug.org.uk/archive/2003/04/msg00263.html
  • http://www.dcglug.org.uk/archive/2003/04/msg00260.html

• Please set your mail client with your real name in the from field.
  • A name such as LUG is not acceptable
  • Other problems like this include setting the name as blank, or mail or personal etc. Remember the mailing list is a community and others on the list like to know who is behind the words.
  • In the mutt mail client, the .muttrc line is: ~~set realname="John Peter Cornish"~~

• Bad usage of quoting. '>' symbols are used for quoting someone, not yourself. This can happen if you have problems with an email account and you end up forwarding an email to another account before posting - please take a little time to sift out the symbols or find out how to adjust your email client.

• Please do not TOP POST. Reply in context under the quote, not above.

• Please never post test messages to the mailing list. Mail a friend's account, or if you have no friends, open one at Yahoo! ;)

• If your post is 'off-topic' for a Linux User Group but may still be off interest to some members, mark the subject line as such, start the subject line with [OT].

• Be careful how you quote and to whom. In this example,
  • we are not sure what exactly he is referring to
  • the reply itself is not really of any substance or rather of any interest to all mailing list members
  • He needn't have quoted the entire message, as the message id refers to the entire message replied to and should have mailed the original message's author directly instead of everybody on the list.

General pointers:

• Put in a descriptive subject. Or at least please, just a subject to refer to your message!

• Email is plain text. Not HTML or anything else for that matter.

• Please spell check.

• Please make sure your system's clock is correct.

• Many subscribers like to use threading in the email client. If you are starting a new topic or composing a message that is at all unrelated to the previous thread, start a NEW message - don't reply to an existing one. In KMail it is easy to setup a folder just for the mailing list and if you are in that folder and start a new message, the To: address can be added automatically.

• The mailing list is a public medium, so please take a little extra care and think about the other subscribers.

• Swearing is not acceptable - all emails to the list are archived onto the public DCGLUG website and offensive content reflects badly on the rest of the GNUⁱ/Linux community.

• If you use GnuPG to sign emails it is not acceptable to hide your key - use the help on this site to publicise your public key so that your email digital signature can be verified. There really is little point signing an email if the key cannot be retrieved by others on the list.

• Please check your email before sending - watch for:
  • To: address - is this meant for the list or for an individual?
  • Quoting: have you deleted unnecessary quotes from the original message?
  • From: Are you sending from the correct address - the one that is actually subscribed to the list.
  • Have you taken time to reflect on what you have written - firing off an email in haste can often begin a flame war.