I've noticed that some people seem to be aggravated when esoteric GZG subjects
come up on the mailing list. So why don't we have a code for
the E-Mail subject lines? That way, a quick press of the delete key and
the irritating, to you, e-mail is gone for good.
How about: "GZG" first of all? So, if you're on multiple mailing lists you can
easily sort out which messages are from which mailing list.
If the e-mail is about a specific game system, then "DSII" or "DS2"
for Dirtside II, "SG2" or "SGII" for Stargrunt II, "XT" for eXtra Thrust
(FTIII?), "EFSB" or "B5" for Earth Force Source Book or Babylon 5 and similar.
If the e-mail is about future history, we could use Political or
Organisations or History or Events or just Future History as the case may be.
Meta questions about, say, the mailing list could be: "List". Much like my own
subject line.
Silly subjects, like Wombles, can have the code: "Off Topic -
Wombles." or similar. Adverts for sites, club, locations, URL, and similar
would be: "Advert".
After these codes would come the description of what the message is about.
I welcome comments and suggestions. Here's a water bucket for those hot
flames! Splash!
> At 22:31 20/08/98 +1200, you wrote:
Not a flame as such, but I've been on various mailing lists that have tried
these and they tend to be pretty hard to enforce. Especially with emails that
put RE: on subjects automatically and things like that. The only way to
enforce it would be to have a lot of sublists that all feed into the man list
and have automatic header editing, which unfortunately the listserver doesn't
allow. I think if people want to do this voluntarily this would be very
useful, but I don't want to have to 'police' people who forget for example.
And unless it's done for every mail message atomatically, it's usefulness as a
mailfilter target is fair to middlin.
OK, so, this is what I propose. I would *like* people to put the following
text somewhere in the subject fields, but I'm not going to shout at People
over it.
Game Related:
[GZG-FT]
[GZG-DS]
[GZG-SG]
All of these for *direct* game discussion- house rules,
amendments etc
Other game things
[GZG-MIN] (posts about miniatures, micro machines etc)
[GZG-TER] (posts about building terrain etc)
[GZG-TIP] (any other useful *GAME* tips)
Internet things
[GZG-URL] - post of a web page that people might like
[GZG-PRG] - URL/FTP of programs and utilities, spreadsheets etc
Secondary subjects
[GZG-BCK] - background info and discussion - all the politics etc
[GZG-ENT] - discussion about TV, movies, books etc
Specials
[GZG-ANN] - This one's for me. Important list messages go under this
subject. I *expect* everyone to read these, and I also expect all replies to
be redirected to me personally. Jon T could also use this for official GZG
news.
[GZG-FAQ] - whoever is doing the FAQ, you might want to use this one
when you post about it
[GZG-OLC] - news about Paul's Online Catalogue
Do these seem OK to people? Again, I'm not going to /force/ people to
use these but I think they would help.
TTFN
Jon
> I welcome comments and suggestions.
Most modern mailers can sort out traffic from the
senders address, thus all my FTGZG-L traffic is autofiltered.
I can't be bothered to put GZG: on every post, sorry.
If this can be done by the listserver itself - all well and
good.
The proposed tags are OK. Any tag system should be memorable and simple and
forgiving
FT
DS2 / DSII
SG2 / SGII
OT (off topic)
There are a list of recognised abbrevs on the FT FAQ. Other examples are
[ANNOUNCE]
[OFFICIAL]
[LONG]
Tags are generally in use at moment, but unofficial and more importantly
*optional*.
If we introduce an OFFICIAL MANDATORY tag system then there might be moaning
when people forget to use it, or incorrectly apply it...
More importantly just use meaningful subject lines and *keep the subject line
in step with the thread*. Use *was* to denote the subject line shift if you
change it.
Incorrect subject lines and over-quoting are to me the
most annoying manifestations on the list:
When a thread drifts on to a subject you may be interested in but you nuke it
unread based on its old subject line.
When a subject line says [LONG] but the followups aren't long
> Query: maybe I ask this through naitivity about various mail
In my case (MS Outlook) the list-server address is in the
To: field the message was From: "Lifes not a journey..."
Mail programs do vary a great deal but most give you the
basic From: - To: RFC822 information AFAIK.
But I agree with your point, GZG is redundant really and I can't remember all
the proposed tag
Mnemonics easily or simply - so I'll forget
to use them and they are different to the existing conventions, probably so
they follow the same TLA rule.
If we want strict topics then maybe we should move to a BBS.
> <snip> subject filter headings<snip>
[...]
> OK, so, this is what I propose. I would *like* people to put the
Query: maybe I ask this through naitivity about various mail programs, but
don't most, if not all, mail utilities at least tell you from whom the mail
message(s) is/are from? In our case here, from the FTGZG listserver.
Doesn't this make the 'GZG' entry in the subject header redundant?
Mk
> I've noticed that some people seem to be aggravated when esoteric GZG
No thanks. You can filter on the list address for this (I do as a matter of
course; I participate in about 7 different lists
-- though most are not as active as this one!).
> If the e-mail is about a specific game system, then "DSII" or "DS2"
[DS] [SG] [FT] [FT3] [EFSB] [B5]
Good! Then I can easily dump the B5 and SG stuff, which I'm not particularly
interested in.
> If the e-mail is about future history, we could use Political or
[OT] works well for this.
> Adverts for sites, club, locations, URL, and similar would be:
[AD]
> After these codes would come the description of what the message is
Ooooh! That felt good! ;-)
- Sam
> OK, so, this is what I propose. I would *like* people to put the
But this set of codes is too hard to remember. And I don't know about you, but
i have trouble keeping track of stuff when I need a reference table for it.
- Sam
> Game Related:
> I welcome comments and suggestions.
This is commonly shortened (on other lists) to [ANN].
- Sam
> At 08:11 20/08/98 -0600, you wrote:
Ok, drop the GZG, as someone suggested. That would give us..
> Game Related:
> Other game things
> Internet things
> Secondary subjects
> Specials
I think they're /fairly/ self evident actually. I would hate to have a
spearate topic for B5 *AND* for the EFSB because people are likely to be
interested in one or neither. Most people will only have to remember the three
games and 5 others, I don't think that's too hard. As I said, it's optional
anyway.
TTFN
Jon
Without sounding rather obvious here chaps, why do we need these?
Isn't this the information the subject header is supposed to convey?
Jonathan spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> >>Game Related:
Easy to memorize.
> >>Other game things
Not so likely
> >>Secondary subjects
What about [GEN] for general interest? Like stuff on modern equipment, or
fascinating things like that that some list members may find interesting but
aren't a game system component or rule or don't seem to fit in the other tags?
> >>Specials
Must admit I prefer the longer [OFFICIAL] that Jon T was using earlier. And
frankly, its nice enough to here from Jon or Mike that I'm happy if they don't
use tags too.... (grin).... but for us other
profligate offenders - tags seem like a good idea.
> >>[FAQ] - whoever is doing the FAQ, you might want to use this one
Why not [GZGCAT] or even just [CAT] - and couldn't Nic use this too?
and the [B5] tag should cover B5/EFSB etc. since there is a big
enough interested user community but they tend to read stuff that fits both
descriptions.
Tom.
/************************************************
> You wrote:
> >>Secondary subjects
[BYZ] for Rhomaioi in Space/Historical Rhomaioi. :)
You know wargamers, alwasy looking to classify, organize, specify etc to the
nth degree. <g>
Los
> Stuart Murray wrote:
> Without sounding rather obvious here chaps, why do we need these ?
One thing we do have to remember is that we DON'T need to use square
[brackets] or TLAs (Three Letter Abbreviations). Let the e-mail programs
understand humans instead. There is no need to be exceedingly nice and polite
to software, it exists at our whim anyway and is our servant not our master.
Let's just use short descriptive words or very common abbreviations instead.
Used consistently, the new comers will see it and pick it up intuitively.
Our proposed e-mail subject code is like this
GZG [game system/history/meta topic] [topic]
Some practical examples might be:
GZG DS2 Slow aerospace craft. GZG SG3 New morale rules.
GZG B5 Narn fighters - Can they teleport?
GZG FT ESU Announce - miniatures now available from Chinese dealers.
GZG List -Abusive postings not being ignored.
GZG Official SG Oceanic Union minis
Note that none of the above are intended to be true except for the first.
If you don't want to type GZG for all your posts, select the e-mail you
want
to reply to or any GZG e-mail, and choose "reply to author". The e-mail
program you're using should automatically fill in the appropriate fields in
the e-mail composer. Then it's just a matter of backspacing over the
subject line and altering to suit.
If your e-mail program can't do this, consider upgrading it!
The problem of:
Subject: Re re Re re Re Re re Re re Re Re re Re A topic, now long
forgotten.
My e-mail program automatically knows how NOT to put additional "re"s in
the
subject line. You should consider upgrading your e-mail program, or
delete the offending "re"s before annoying others.