[plug] Installfest 2001 - Announce & Details.

[Bret Busby]

On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Matt Kemner wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Bret Busby wrote:
> 
> > The entire notice was needed, so that my message could be read in context.
> 
> Bollocks! [0]
>
>   There was no need to include 9 pages of text to add 2 pages down the
> bottom.

I had assumed that it was only one page. It certainly didn't appear as 9 pages,
in kmail.

If the original message was 9 pages, there is another problem with the notice;
from the context of the notice, which appeared to be for posting on
noticeboards, and, for circulating via email; it was too long and, for all the
words, said too little.

Also, in considering the notice, one point well worth mentioning, in the context
of the notice stating that its purposes included getting members of the public
to attend, is that the wording and format of the notice (like a man page)
appeared to be written for Linux/UNIX users, and, not for members of the
public. This is an unfortunate thing, as it is like using all jargon, so that
members of the public cannot understand, and, can make Linux appear as
something for geeks and nerds. I suggest that, with future installfests, this
is something that should be considered.

>  
>   You could have included the top few lines,snipped the middle, 
> and included the PGP stuff at the bottom that you had issue with, and 
>everybody would have known exactly what you were referring to. 

The points were that the notice as stated in the notice, was insufficient, and,
that nowhere in the notice, was adequate description given, of Linux, apart
from the signature issue. I had regarded the inclusion of the whole notice as
necessary, as my response applied to the whole of the notice, as does the
paragraph above, referring to the way that the notice was written that was not
appropriate for members of the public who were not already Linux/UNIX users.

> > Please, listen to what we are trying to tell you.
> I don't really want to enforce a "quoting" policy through the list server.

It is also equally easy, to do what I encounter on some mailing lists, where no
quote of the message to which a response is being made, is included, so a
person reading a response, has no idea as to what, or to whom, the response is
being made.

It is all a matter of context, and, more bandwidth is wasted, by people on a
miling list broadcasting complaints about quotations, than by the quotation
itself, and, it should be noted, as this appears to be being used as a forum
for the "Lets have a go at Bret again, since we haven't managed to get rid of
him yet" movement, that other recent responses that I have made, to other posted
messages, have not included extraneous quoted parts of messages to which I have
responded.

So, a pox on your bollocks!

Bret Busby
............