Sent by Eric A. Meyer on 2 November 2004 09:09
Hello all,
Before I get to the real subject: TRIM YOUR QUOTED MATERIAL!
Whether you top-or-bottom post is not a policy matter-- I have a
personal preference, but officially am neutral on that subject. It's
still a list policy that you trim your quoted material as much as
possible. Note that if you have a gMail account, it may well hide
all of the attached quoted material. Figure out how to fix this, or
else don't subscribe with gMail. Understood? Good.
(And if a gMail user figure out how to fix the hidden-quoted
problem, please document the fix on the wiki.
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=PostingGuidelines would be a
good place from which to branch information about configuring e-mail
clients, actually; we could also document how to get various clients
to not send HTML-formatted e-mail, etc. A new page with a URL such
as http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=ConfiguringEmailClients might
be a place to start.)
All right, now to the actual topic at hand.
css-discuss has gotten too big for me to manage. A couple of
weeks ago, the list's subscribed-address database passed the 5,000
mark. As I write this, it's up to 5,081 subscribed addresses. The
only way I-- or anyone else-- could effectively manage the list at
this point is to make it a full-time job. Since there's no money for
salary, that's sort of a non-option.
I know this has come up before, but at long last, I'm actually
going to do something about it. Since Mailman (the software on which
css-d is run) allows me to designate list moderators, I'm going to do
so.
The job of the moderators will primarily be to keep an eye on the
spam filter, and also to help enforce the list policies. That
includes nudging threads away from off-topic terrain, sending
off-list reminders about excessive quoting, dealing with
autoresponders, identifying material that should go into the wiki,
and so on.
So here's the deal. If you're interested in being a list
moderator, AND you meet the following qualifications, I'd like to
hear from you. The qualifications are:
* You're willing to devote at least a few hours every week to
checking on this list and making sure that it's running smoothly.
* You've been a subscriber to the list for at least six months,
and ideally more than a year.
* You've posted responses to other people's posts, and have posted
new messages of your own.
* You're sure that you can handle controversies in a neutral
manner, without injecting your personal opinion(s) into the
resolution. As an example, think "font sizing holy war". On a
related note, you're able to deal with on- and off-list flames in a
professional manner, regardless of the situation.
And what will you get in return?
* The satisfaction of helping to guide and improve a large community.
* Sporadic appreciation from other list members for the work you do.
* Also sporadic flames from people who disagree with your decisions.
* My support, my gratitude, and my instant-message ID.
That's about it.
If you're still interested, e-mail me off-list, telling me in a
few words why you want to take on this often-thankless task, and why
you think you'd be a good choice. From the respondents, I'll pick a
small group of people (probably no more than five), assign tasks if
that seems necessary, and we'll go from there.
--
Eric A. Meyer (http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/), List Chaperone
"CSS is much too interesting and elegant to be not taken seriously."
-- Martina Kosloff (http://www.mako4css.com/)
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