On Tue, 14 Oct 1997 09:50:53 -0700, lists(_at_)professional(_dot_)org
(Professional Software Engineering) wrote:
Now, a more frequent posting of a FAQ/Resources pointer message, including
(un)subscription/archive/etc info might be a good thing. I'm not talking
about posting the CONTENTS of the FAQ, but pointers to it. Might I suggest
that the administrator of the FAQ resource consider posting it to the list
(Ahem, that would be me. Tap tap, is this thing on?)
with an increased priority (so that mailers which show it will make the
message stand out that much more).
Is this a good idea? How many mail readers actually display the
priority? What priority exactly should I use? It doesn't feel exactly
like it should be "Priority: Urgent", does it?
My recent query on the FAQ pointer posting frequency basically brought
an unanimous response that it should be posted more often, in one form
or another.
Thanks to everyone who responded.
I'm working on it, planning to do a "mini-announcement" in between
regular postings of the FAQ pointer (it's more than a screenful, i.e.
annoying if you have seen it before or are not interested), and
continue posting the regular announcement every 17 days (so the
reminder and the regular FAQ pointer would alternate every 8.5 days).
Some people thought making a "real" mini-FAQ (as in, much smaller
than the present one) would be a good idea, but I'm afraid I might not
have the time to do it right now. I sort of like the idea, but it's
hard to decide what exactly would be important enough to make it into
the mini version. (We all have our darlings. The forwarding to
many/virtual domain server/DO IT IN SENDMAIL GODDAMMIT question would
be complicated enough to explain to make its own mini-FAQ.)
I'm hoping a pointer to the FAQ could be included in the "welcome"
message to the list one day. An alternate solution would be to
autorespond to first-time posters to the list but I'm not sure I like
this idea.
I haven't got any of this fully automated yet and the remind(1)
program isn't installed on the host I've been using lately :-) but
either of these conditions could change soon. Until then, the posting
frequency will remain a bit erratic. I'll try to post the FAQ
announcement before next week, anyway.
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