[FFML] Just a note on configuration

[Jon Rosebaugh]

On Jul 2, 2007, at 3:11 AM, Sean Connor wrote:

> On Sun, Jul 01, 2007 at 09:53:05PM -0700, John Campbell wrote:
>> Personally I think the old policy, combined with the attitude of the
>> posts regarding off-topic posts, most noticeable in replies to such
>> things as "Fic search" posts was a great part of the reason the  
>> list was
>> dieing.  If you don't build a community the list will just die the  
>> way
>> rec.arts.anime.creative did.
>
> Agreed, but how much does the list's Reply-to policy have to do with
> that?  The list was largely isolated from the mainstream Internet  
> for a
> very long time, and little new blood was coming on board.   
> Newcomers to
> the world of Internet fanfiction found it much easier to find places
> like fanficion.net, and thus never found their way here.  Meanwhile  
> the
> old guard was subject to the attrition that naturally occurs with any
> Internet forum.
>
> If you want to know why the list is less active today, this is  
> why.  The
> Reply-to setting, in all likelihood, has little or nothing to do with
> it.
>
> Also, I encourage you to read:
> http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html

I'd consider _not_ using reply-to munging on this list to be harmful.  
It encourages replies to go off-list (even more so for Gmail users,  
where Reply is directly visible, but Reply to All is hidden in a  
dropdown), and we're not overwhelmed with traffic. I'd go so far as  
to say that we _need_ that traffic. It also causes the CC list to  
build up, requiring people to manually remove unneeded addresses;  
indeed, you're likely going to get two copies of this, because I  
can't be arsed to remove your name from the To list, and move the  
FFML address there. If we want to encourage a culture where the  
default response is a public response, it seems clear which option we  
should choose.

Jon

I am a leaf on the wind.
Watch how I soar.