[MacPerl] A Lecture On List Etiquette

[Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>]

mima2@ca2.so-net.or.jp (Masataka Kashiwagi) writes:
>unusbscribe
>                      ---------------------------
>$B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(B $BD+F|=PHG<R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(B   

^[$B!!!!, indeed.

I have unsubscribed Mr. Masataka, as I do with everyone requesting this in any
form. However, I'm afraid his requests are part of an unpleasant pattern of
sloppiness that I detect among some of our subscribers. 

The one and only way to unsubscribe from the list is to send a message to

mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch

With the word "unsubscribe" in standard English spelling in the body of the
message. Now, please allow for a few hours for the flow of messages to stop: By
the time you unsubscribe, there are often a few messages queued in our mail
daemon for delivery, and they will be delivered. If you still get messages
24 hours after your request, contact me personally <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>.

This is the GOOD way to unsubscribe. The UGLY way is to send the message to
mac-perl@iis.ee.ethz.ch. This is actually caught by the mailing list server,
so the message gets redirected to me, and I can unsubscribe the user manually.
This is mildly annoying, as it costs me a minute or two, but nobody gets to
see the message but me.

However, what *really* annoys me is to misspell the message. The word is

UNSUBSCRIBE

it is *not* UNSBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCIBE, UNSUSBCIBE, or SIGNOFF or LOGOUT or AMEN or
"drop me from the list". It is BAD to send a message like this to more than 800
people.

Now, I can understand that a non-native speaker of English might occasionally
misspell a word, but there is NO EXCUSE not to keep the subscription
information. All of you subscribed here VOLUNTARILY. Supposedly the list was
at one time of some use to you. I respect the fact that at some point it might
stop being useful, but PLEASE do show some respect too, and make some effort
to leave the list with as little noise & annoyance as possible. If you have a
habit of trashing hotel rooms where you were a guest, join a rock band, not a
mailing list.

You got complete unsubscription information when you signed up. You will get
another copy today. You could easily get a copy simply by following the URL to
my homepage in each of my posts.

MAKE AN EFFORT if you want to unsubscribe.

Thanks.

Matthias
PS: I would like to use this opportunity to wish you all pleasant holidays and
    happy celebrations, whatever you might be inclined to celebrate in the
    next few weeks.
PPS: At the same time, I would like to ask you *not* to send holiday greetings
    to the list, except as postscripts to real messages. And of course to
    refrain from engaging in meta-discussion about the list. Quod licet neeri,
    non licet bovi.

-----
Matthias Neeracher   <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>   http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
  ``One shudders at the notion that the Internet could become the least common
   denominator -- where "decent" is defined by the Americans, and "politically
   correct" by the Chinese.'' -- Jacques Gaillot, Bishop of Partenia