On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 02:59:26PM -0700, Charles Curley wrote: > On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 21:36:00 +0000 > "Andrew M.A. Cater" <amaca...@einval.com> wrote: > > > Replies to you which are specifically marked as replies off-list are > > private. Don't repost private information. The normal expectation is > > that the list is public and communication to the list is public. > > If someone specifically replies to you in private, it would be for an > > exceptional reason and should not be reposted back to the list. >
In this particular thread, a poster suggested on-list that he was replying off-list in order to not prolong the thread. That _private_ post was then posted back to the list. That's not appropriate in any circumstances. If you do reply to something off-list, then a good practice is to put in a sentence explaining _why_ you're replying off list and that it shouldn't be copied back to the list. If someone doesn't do that, then you should assume that anything off list is intended between two people only. Anyone can make mistakes and reply with a post to a list that was intended to be a private reply: that's why it's important to make it clear up front that something is intended to remain private, if possible. Likewise, if I accidentally reply to a poster with a more general post that I meant to go to the list, I'll post to the list with "Sent to poster in private by mistake - forwarding to the list for info" so that it's not lost. Finger trouble happens: the correct thing is to respond to it appropriately, with an apology if necessary.. > Clarification, please. Occasionally a miss-configured mail reader will > cause a private off-list reply, which the correspondent does not notice. > My usual response to that sort of thing is to suggest that the > correspondent fix his mail reader, and then reply to the email on-list. > But only if there is nothing in either the errant email or my reply to > it which I believe to be private. Is something like that within your > admonition not to reply on-list to an off-list email? > I think I'm going to have to expand the FAQ again. There's a bit in there that says, effectively "don't start a question thread on list, take it off list and get an answer, then come back to the list saying *Solved* without actually giving an answer" That's quite often the reaction of someone relatively new to the list, who gets a good answer from someone on list, mails the expert off list, maybe has a further problem solving conversation and then doesn't leave the answer. That's frustrating for someone trawling a search engine later. That's why there's a bit in there saying "hold your conversations on list as far as you can". Posting well-intentioned private replies back to the list is not appropriate. Throwing people's help back in their face is not appropriate. Consideration - and sometimes keeping your hands off the keyboard for an hour - *is* appropriate. All the very best, as ever, Andy Cater [amaca...@debian.org]
