[phenixbb] OT- etiquette (was Re: Phenix version 1.7-650 and Pymol

[Donnie Berkholz]

On 10:59 Wed 02 Feb     , Nathaniel Echols wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 9:34 AM, Edward A. Berry <BerryE at upstate.edu> wrote:
> > By the way, what is the preferred etiquette- "reply all" or just 
> > reply to the list? I usually assume the recipient is subscribed to 
> > the list and doesn't need or want an extra copy, but it is very easy 
> > to delete a duplicate email and i can see if one is subscribed to 
> > the digest then having a personal copy would make the dialog go 
> > faster.
> 
> I don't have strong feelings about this.  Approximately one quarter of 
> subscribers only get the digest, and due to multiple complaints about 
> too much Phenix-related email, I've decreased the frequency with which 
> digests are sent out, several times now.  (They used to be at least 
> daily, but I changed that on Monday.)  So it may make more sense to 
> reply-to-all, but I can't speak for everyone else.  If you're replying 
> to one of the developers, however, we all get instant delivery.

I recommend CC'ing people, which is nice for many groups:

- digest subscribers, to keep discussions going more quickly and without 
  breaking everyone else's threading;
- people who don't get list mail for other reasons (it's possible to 
  subscribe as a post-only user); and
- those of us with separate mail filters set up for mails with our names
  attached. That way, we don't need to immediately read every mailing 
  list we're on.

Regarding the digest frequency, it sounds like the real problem is 
people who haven't yet learned how to deal with lots of email, where 
lots is hundreds/thousands per day instead of 50 or so. Perhaps posting 
a prominent link that teaches people how to use things like mail 
filters, subfolders/tags, threading, and "mark thread/all as read" would 
be equally or more valuable than trying to find a single digest 
frequency that's perfect for everyone. Honestly, it's much faster to do 
things this way than dealing with digests, once you get the hang of it.

-- 
Thanks,
Donnie

Donald S. Berkholz, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
James R. Thompson lab, Physiology & Biomedical Engineering
Grazia Isaya lab, Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine
Medical Sciences 2-66
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
200 First Street SW
Rochester, MN 55905
office: 507-538-6924
cell: 612-991-1321
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