[Techtalk] private replies/ list replies

[Telsa Gwynne]

On Sun, Jun 06, 2004 at 09:26:36AM -0700 or thereabouts, Carla Schroder wrote:
> The last few times I've posted questions here, I got bales of nice helpful 
> replies- offlist. I don't understand this. I expect list questions to be 
> answered on the list, so that everyone can benefit. Is there some sekrit 
> Techtalk rule I'm unaware of?  :)

Sure. It's the wind-up-Carla rule. :)
 
> Seriously, it's happening so much I'm wondering why. I appreciate very much 
> all the smart people who share their knowledge- but why the private posts? 
> Isn't a public discussion the point of using a list?

I generally post to the list if I think it is helpful. There 
are some occasions where I don't. One example is where I am
not actually sure I have the right answer. I don't want archives
and archives full of my more off-beat guesswork. Not unless it
chances to be accurate guesswork! 

So I reply off-list and say why I am doing that; and I say 
"if this works, please feel free to forward it to the list,
or reply on-list saying it works". 

There's a couple of other reasons (really -really- long 
emails which are not entirely germane to the original question,
for example), but that's the main one.

Telsa