Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 09:16:38 +1100 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: wwoods@cybcon.com Subject: Don't copy this idea Message-ID: <19990206091638.51331@welearn.com.au>
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A timely reminder not to ever send test messages to a mailing list, especially the FreeBSD lists. (Sorry if this embarrasses you, William, but I guess by now you're getting a lot of unkinder mail anyway, and we're indebted to you.) It is clear to me that this guy could not have had any idea what would be the outcome of sending a test message. At least 5,000 individual copies of this mail would have been delivered and downloaded, and most of the recipients would feel annoyed enough to say so... get the picture? There is a mailing list called freebsd-test@freebsd.org which you can use freely, with or without subscribing, to send your test messages. Sending them to any other list can result in being banned from the FreeBSD lists, but worse, it causes you to lose face in the community. The biggest danger is that newbies will see test messages and say "great idea, I'll just send one tiny test message and make sure it works". At 5,000 a pop (plus reply flame threads) the damage reaches spammer level, and the poster's reputation goes the same way. Don't let this happen to you by accident. Ignore any "test" messages, because they're probably being dealt with off the list already. Don't post them yourself, don't let your software accidentally post them for you, and if you really need to test, just use freebsd-test@freebsd.org. An alternative would be to post something truly useful within the topic of a list (and avoid the nasty t word). You can always write to freebsd-newbies and say "Hi, I live in <town> and I've been using FreeBSD for <howmany days, weeks, months...>. I mainly use it for <blah blah blah>". That's sure to bring a freindly response, and give your mail a good old testing. William, if it's any consolation, a lot of people are probably grateful to you right now for saving their skins by providing this example before they strayed into the same non-obvious trap. For Da Rulez see http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/eresrources:charters.html -----Forwarded message from William Woods <wwoods@cybcon.com>----- Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:48:25 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: wwoods@cybcon.com From: William Woods <wwoods@cybcon.com> To: FreeBSD Questions <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> To: FreeBSD Questions <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>, FreeBSD Current <current@FreeBSD.ORG>, FreeBSD Stable <stable@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: test............ test......... ---------------------------------- E-Mail: William Woods <wwoods@cybcon.com> Date: 05-Feb-99 / Time: 11:48:00 FreeBSD 4.0 -Current ---------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message -----End of forwarded message----- -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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