Re: "Reply problem"

Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Wed, 29 Jan 1997 17:01:31 -0500 (EST)

On Wed, 29 Jan 1997, Gordon J. Holtslander wrote:

> Hi all:
>
> The solution to the reply problem is to FORWARD a message back to the
> list, rather than replying.
etc., etc.

Hi Gord,

How's the headache? We, your loyal minions, salute you.

However, speaking as an admittedly humble & unassuming person, I freely
admit I didn't understand your explanation.

It's OK: Now that I know a "1" is not an "l," Panix is doing fine, in the
same vein as Fotodave's server, maybe. In fact it asks me one less
question ("Reply to same address?"), which I usually answered backwards,
anyway, so I figure I'm ahead on that. It may even be a little less easy
to send a private message (oops!) to the world at large. (I'm still
getting all the "mailbox full," etc., scoldings from daemon, but many
fewer than formerly, so I figure that will work itself out in time.)

In other words, do not try to "explain" again just for my sake at this
juncture, but do not assume the parameters are fully understood by every
member of the rank & file.

As for "dropping like flies" (dare I mention, "note spelling"?), a few
observations, for what they're worth:

1. So far, among "unsubscribers," I have recognized the name of only one
person who had previously posted a message to the list.

2. That person shortly resubscribed, reminding me that part of Steve's
advice for problem addressees was unsubscribe, then resubscribe.

3. Legions of "lurkers" may feed our grandiosity, but do not, as a rule,
contribute in other ways -- except to start a flame war every so often
when something peeves them. (All but two such "episodes" since I've been
on the list began as an outburst from someone we'd never heard from
before, what you might call "the first post from hell"). If they can bear
to depart, is that bad?

4. We don't know how frequent "unsubscribe" was in the past, since such
messages rarely came to the list at large.

5. We might think of the present flux in terms of "The Prophet." (I
suppose I date myself saying we used to read it out loud to each other at
summer camp.) Here's the one sentence I remember (because it's so true):
"An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." This inconvenience
has flushed (so far) Lewis Dennison and Al Duke out of the underbrush.
Hi, Al & Lewis, who are you? where are you?

cheers,

Judy