[CLUE-Talk] Linux Fun-da-mentals details... \\ cross/multi-list posting

[Matt Gushee]

On 21 Aug 2002 at 12:25, bill ehlert wrote:

> **  sure, it's annoying to get 2 or 3 copies
>     of a msg.
> 
>     yet, from the stats on list membership
>     on another recent post, it's necessary
>     to post on 3 lists to reach everybody
>     associated with CLUE.
> 
>     so whaddayagonnado?

Respect traditional Netiquette, until someone comes up with a better 
set of rules.

>     "no cross/multi-list posting!!!"  may
>     be too simple an answer to work.

I agree to the extend that there should be no ironclad prohibition on 
posting to both lists. Once in a while there are important messages 
that really need to get out to all the members. But I don't think 
you're talking about occasional exceptions.

My opinion is that in general, the recipient's right to subscribe to a 
limited set of topics outweighs the sender's right to be heard. You 
could argue that almost any topic posted on any of the CLUE lists 
*might* be of interest to all the members. But people have their 
reasons for choosing to subscribe to all the lists, or to only one. 
Those who choose only one list are aware that they will miss some 
messages.

The CLUE lists, like all ethically-run mailing lists, use an opt-in 
subscription system. If you think "my stuff is so good that everyone 
will want to know about it, so I don't need to decide which list to 
post to; those who aren't interested can just tune it out" you are in 
effect injecting a strain of opt-out content into the lists. People who 
cross-post are by no means the moral equivalent of spammers, but it's a 
milder form of the same sort of logic that spammers use to justify 
their invasions of our privacy.

Bottom line: those who want to know everything subscribe to all the 
lists. Posters should respect the choice of the rest by choosing the 
appropriate list to post to. If that choice is often hard (it never has 
been for me), then maybe it's time to reconsider the list charters.

Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA