[prog] Possible closure of this mailing list

[Akkana Peck]

H. McManus writes:
> I don't see how having to choose between separate lists is any more  
> confusing/difficult then having to choose between multiple topics in  
> the one list. I also believe using the topic feature of mailman is a  
> less than optimal solution for the simple reason it relies on a  
> person remembering to do the right thing. A system that works only  
> some of the time is largely pointless.

You know, I thought consolidating the lists was a good idea when
Mary proposed it. But I just spent the past hour sorting the Courses
list archives into separate courses ... and you know what? Lots
of people don't use topics right. Even course instructors get it
wrong fairly often, changing or misspelling their own course's name.

You'd think that when people replied to a thread, the topic would be
safely in the subject line. But no -- there were lots of replies
that were properly threaded but had somehow dropped the topic
indicator from the subject.

And of course, there were lots of messages with a subject like:
Subject: Re: [Courses] Re: Courses digest, Vol 1 #60 - 1 msg
... in other words, anyone who uses the digest will probably
reply wrongly and forget to add a topic indicator.

I read both techtalk and programming, so I have no personal stake
either way. But I'm convinced now that topics are not a reliable
way to separate messages (not to mention a lot of hassle for anyone
trying to archive them later).

-- 
    ...Akkana
    "Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional": http://gimpbook.com