The topic of “mailing list etiquette” has come up in a number of Workgroups. This page is to provide some best and worst practices for sending emails to OSLC’s mailing lists. Note that OSLC also has the ability to contribute to the community via forums, which this guidance isn’t intended for.
Correct Subject. Use an accurate and descriptive subject for your email messages and when the topic of conversation changes in a thread, then please change the subject to match.
Preserve the thread. When responding to a message on the mailing list make sure you respond directly to that message. Don’t start a new thread to respond and don’t reply to a digest message, because that will split the thread of conversation.
Do not participate via Digest. If you intend to participate in mailing list conversations, then do not subscribe to the digest list. Responding to digest emails does not preserve threads of conversation.
Post in plain text. Configure your email client send plain text emails to the mailing list and no rich text or HTML. If you need pretty colors and formatting to get your point across then post to forums or create a wiki page. Note that attachments are preserved but not within the context of where you composed it in the original email. The email archive prefers plain text and you have a better chance of a wider audience understanding it due to HTML formatting problems in some clients.
Prevent out-of-office replies Make sure your email client does not send out-of-office or on-vacation emails to the mailing list.
Limit cross-posting As many subscribers may be subscribed to many different lists, sending to many lists will flood them with email. Instead create tailored messages per mailing list.
No restriction on top or bottom posting. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style
Email client settings
Lotus Notes
Send as text (avoid HTML)
File->Preferences->Mail->Internet
Internet mail format: (you can set to “Text” or “Prompt Me”)
Then make sure to reply with this action:
“Reply to All with Internet-Style History”
Then trim out any additional content as needed, ensure to leave enough context and clearly indicate where you chopped text.
Outlook - Need contribution
GMail - Need contribution
Category:Supporting Documents
