Just an idea:

How about the opposite of current system.

In order to get people to put [OT] in the subject lines, how about having the
listserver
automatically do it by default unless a person specifically puts a tag that
indicates
not to.  That way if people really want a response on a PIC related question or
issue(
and it matters to them, they'll have to enter this flag so the listserver will
not mark the
post as [OT].

-Dave







"M. Adam Davis" <adavis@UBASICS.COM> on 04/11/2000 10:27:35 AM

Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>

To:   PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
cc:    (bcc: David E Arnold/SYBASE)
Subject:  [ADMIN] Marking subject lines




Well, it may be nice to have everything nicely categorized by using the subject
line.  But as long as you have new people subscribing to the list without
reading the FAQ or even the welcome message, and as long as you have people who
forget even to put the [OT] up, I don't know that you'll get too far.

But be of good cheer.  We've pretty much gotten rid of all the rogue forms of
[OT], and people are using [ADMIN] when needed.  There aren't any other
confusing terms.  It looks like we just have to take a little at a time, and it
may be a good time to start using [EE].  I would suggest that [OT] be enforced,
but [EE] just become a suggestion.  People can add it to subjects if they want
slightly more exposure for [OT] posts, but we don't need to reprimand them if
they don't include it.

So now we have:
[ADMIN]  for administration questions, suggestions,
         etc which pertain to everyone on the list
[OT]     Items which have little or no conection to
         the PICLIST, but are asked by its members
         anyway.
[OT][EE] Items which have little connection to PICs,
         but may be of interest to electrical
         engineers.

Personally I think the list is doing very well.  I don't feel like I'm wading
through a lot of dross to get to the good stuff.

-Adam

Never knock on Death's door:
Ring the doorbell and run (he hates that).

James Newton wrote:
> On the subject of off topic threads:
>
> Although I'm open to suggestions, my opinion is that its hard enough to get
> people to put [OT] in the subject line. Adding more differentiation on
> subject markings would be great but appears to be to much to ask.
>
> I have noticed a hefty drop in unsubscribbles, non-marked off topics, and
> political and religious posts (despite the recent, short outbreak) since we
> changed the outgoing subscription message and since a few people have
> actually added www.piclist.com to their signature lines. It seems to be
> helping with FAQ's. There are fewer FAQ posts. Keep in mind that there are
> now about 2000 people on the list which is the most I've ever seen.
>
> On the other hand, there seem to be fewer posts in general, and the ratio of
> (marked) off topics to on topics seems to be about the same or maybe a bit
> "worse". I think the decrease in posts may also be related to spring fever.
> It's nice outside <GRIN>.
>
> Anyway, adding [OTT] would require people who have set up filters that drop
> out [OT] to change there set up. I'd rather see something like [EE] in
> addition to [OT] to mark posts that are off topic for PIC's but still
> contain interesting issues for Electrical Engineers. This has been suggested
> several times in the past and has always met with resounding apathy... So
> I've probably wasted my time in typing this....