Re: Mailing List Etiquette FAQ

On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 6:35 PM Jonathan S. Katz <jkatz(at)postgresql(dot)org>
wrote:

> On 11/21/22 10:55 AM, Jonathan S. Katz wrote:
> > On 11/21/22 10:54 AM, Joe Conway wrote:
> >> On 11/21/22 10:46, Jonathan S. Katz wrote:
> >>> On 11/21/22 10:42 AM, Joe Conway wrote:
> >>>> I cannot tell is the author is still around (twitter account
> >>>> inactive since ~2010, no other activity that I could find with a
> >>>> quick search).
> >>>
> >>> +1; there are some things in it we would likely want to modify as well
> >>> (e.g. exact troubleshooting contact info) so having permission would be
> >>> good.
> >>>
> >>> The author did provide an email to reach out to request permission, so
> >>> we can try that.
> >>>
> >>> If the author does not reply, we can say we made a best effort, host
> our
> >>> own copy while linking back to the original on archive.org.
> >>
> >> Well the problem with that is that the page specifically says:
> >>
> >> "This document may be freely retransmitted in Usenet or email;
> >> permission to reproduce in any other media should be requested from
> >> the author, Brian Edmonds <brian(at)gweep(dot)ca>."
> >>
> >> I will send an email (and perhaps try a DM on twitter) and see if he
> >> responds or it bounces.
> >
> > We read the same page :) I think it's OK if we make a best effort,
> > especially given that the page itself is hosted on archives.org at tihs
> > point and not readily accessible.
>
> Just to clarify, if we can't reach the author and we don't want to link
> to the archive anymore, we would have to write our own version of
> mailing list etiquette.
>

If we think about "the bigger picture", we probably almost want that
anyway. That is, we want something that tells people how to use *our* lists
as well -- ISTM that the same place that would hold this information
could/should also hold things like "how to use the retransmit feature to
interact with an existing thread" and "how to use mbox downloads" and
stuff like that. We want the general one as well yes, we should try to do
an adapted version. There's also stuff on that one (such as the "bounces
list") that is irrelevant to our lists.

That said, definite +1 for trying to contact the person first and making it
a "based on" thing.

--
Magnus Hagander
Me: https://www.hagander.net/ <http://www.hagander.net/>
Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/ <http://www.redpill-linpro.com/>