On Fri, Oct 03, 2008, Ned Slider wrote:
Vandaman wrote:
Off course people are going to ask. In my opinion as long as a topic is marked OT, it is preferable to one not marked but one in which the OP has not even done basic research on his problem.
It may be preferable to YOU, but marking something OT doesn't stop it wasting MY bandwidth or clogging up MY inbox does it?
That's what incoming mail filters are for :-). I must admit that I do the vast majority of my e-mail using mutt which makes it extremely easy for me to delete threads unread. This is usually much more time-consuming with GUI or web mail clients.
Personally I have no problem with the occassional OT thread, and think that, within reason, they can make a list more ``friendly'' and less intimidating to newbies.
I also prefer more general lists to those that have very tight charters as I learn quite a bit when I see threads with interesting subjects that I might not see otherwise.
Bill