[Techtalk] private replies/ list replies

[Devdas Bhagat]

On 06/06/04 20:29 +0100, Meredydd wrote:
> I'm CC'ing grrltalk, as this has really ceased to be a technical 
> question. Further replies to grrltalk only, please...
I am not on grrltalk.

> On Sunday 06 June 2004 19:37, Devdas Bhagat wrote:
<Adding context here>
<Devdas Bhagat>
> > > > Not necessarily. A list is a good way to get in contact with
> > > > knowledgable people, of which a subset will find your problem
> > > > interesting and you only deal with that subset about that problem.
<Carla Schroder>
> > > How does this work, a show of hands? "Only people who are interested
> > > raise their hands, and we won't talk to anyone else." Also keep in
> > > mind that the lists are archived, so they are a nice searchable
> > > resource for future generations.
> >
> > No. You post to a list. People interested in that topic reply. The
> > rest don't get any mail on that subject. You post a summary after
> > two/three days of technical discussion, and there are fewer flamewars
> > on the list.
> 
> No need to be so peremptory - in fact, keeping most-if-not-all 
> discussion on-list is the Linuxchix house style, and has been for at 
> least as long as I've been here.
I was answering the question of how the model of reply to poster, who
finally summarises works.
For the questions of Carla's post, she got 5 replies. If the list has
about 100 members and each reply was 2 KB, thats about 1 MB of traffic.
As opposed to this, with an offlist reply and a summary, thats 200KB to
the list and 10KB more to Carla. Also, list members don't see repeated
posts with the same information.


> I rather like it this way - one reason is that you get to watch what 
> people try, as well as what succeeds, which means if you have the same 
> question, you're more likely to find a solution that works. In 
Which a good summary should cover. In fact, a summary of a discussion
should cover all relevant points as in a howto.

Devdas Bhagat

PS: If you notice, I almost always reply to the list, very rarely
individually.