Hi All,
To date, I have received 185 responses to my request for listserv reply
settings : 71 to change the reply default setting and 114 to leave the
reply default setting as it is. Thus, the large majority of subscribers
who took the time to vote want to read the responses to questions posed
to the list and prefer to filter their mail by deleting topics/messages
that do not interest them. Accordingly, I will leave the reply settings
as they are and focus more on educating the subscribers about
appropriate listserv protocol. Currently, there are more than 829
subscribers on the list and more than 200 different individuals have
participated in discussions during the last 3 months. (In my count of
discussion participants, I did not count a "vote" as discussion
participation.) I found that both active discussion participants and
"lurkers" who responded were divided on how they thought the reply
function should be set.
I am impressed by the participation of subscribers on this list. Your
discussions are a wonderful resource to the novice and the experienced
learning center professional alike. I hope that we all will be careful
not to alienate fellow members by sending personal messages to the whole
group, by including the entire (long) message rather than an excerpt
from the original message when replying, or by making
inappropriate/offensive comments -- political or otherwise. Also, we
should recognize (and forgive) the occasional response made without
thinking or a small error in judgment and use the delete key. I welcome
your suggestions for listserv improvements (privately please), and I
will try to incorporate the suggestions some of you already sent with
your vote. Again, thanks for being such a great resource for all of us.
Winnie Cooke
University of Florida
_______________
Though comment was not requested, I would like to share some of the
thoughts sent along with the vote.
Comments by subscribers who voted to change the reply default are quoted
below:
* I have already had one person who has sent a NO CHANGE vote to the
whole list. I think this illustrates clearly the need for eht change.
* I'm one of the "lurkers" who would reply to the individual rather
than the group. Changing the default would allow that.
* Assuming this passes, please be sure to place appropriate,
noticeable warnings at the top of regular communications to the
list letting people know what to do to reply to whole list.
* I have been annoyed that some people overreact to political
commentary.
* I also think that the change would help us recognize people who
simply want to inflame matters.
*
If the sender meant to send it to the whole listserv, he will soon discover that he did not and can put in the listserv's address.
*
Please! there are way too many personal message sent because people hit the reply button!
* I reluctantly vote to CHANGE the system.
* Sounds like a good idea.
*
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Enough already with the political opinions this week. I don't want my e-mail cluttered.
* I personally enjoy the political debates, but I think the present
system has caused some embarrassment since people don't think a
lot before hitting "send."
*
I know we will miss some good discussions, but we will also miss also of the "send to me, too" emails.
Comments by subscribers who voted to leave the reply default as it is
are quoted below:
* As someone new to this field, I am one of the "Lurkers" that has
gotten much out of the information that is posted. I agree that
it is sometimes annoying when personal conversations accidentally
get posted for all to see, but all it takes is a touch of the
delete button (or a shift + mouse click to highlight a number of
items before deleting). An excellent example of a current topic I
am getting a lot of information about is AccuTrac vs. Tutor Trac.
We are looking into this for our office and the information going
back and forth is extremely valuable. I'm getting all that I need
without having to send another posting to the list.
* If you change it, we will not see the responses that we want to
see OR the person receiving the replies will have to summarize and
post to the list.
* I am a very appreciative lurker (with considerable experience) who
has learned from the contributions of several frequent, educated,
and experienced subscribers. I am willing to wade through the
political junk and "Please post to list" emails to hear the
musings of the ten people whose replies I never fail to open and read.
*
I think we are adults. Use the delete key.
* I mostly lurk on the listserve--jumping in just occasionally. For
the most part, I delete quite a bit of email about things that
aren't relevant to my position, and I'm a bit annoyed by all the
"send one to me, too" emails that go to the whole list. That
said, however, I think that way too many people will hit "reply"
when they actually intended to email everyone, and if that's the
case, we'll no longer have a listserve. So I think probably it's
better to leave things as they are, and let everybody learn to be
"speedy deleters."
* Yes I'm usually a lurker. I am annoyed by some of the threads,
but after a while I just stop reading them. However, if we go to
a reply to sender only, then there really is no listserve. It
would be a place to hear a question, but never the various answers
which are so helpful to so many.
* This is not a regulated forum. Some messages may not always be
appropriate. That happens. Everyone has a delete key. They just
need to use it. Responders are just as guilty as the initial
"offender" by not deleting and moving on OR responding offline.
Enuff!
* This event happens so rarely that I would say not to change it.
While I do not like getting my email clogged with personal replies
and political vomit, I can also choose (which I do) to simply
shift and delete in quantity. I would rather have to manage the
trash in order to read the gems that come through.
* I am a lurker and have picked up much useful info from the
replies. This is why I belong to the listserve. If you change
that, how can I lsten in on the conversations?
* I would like to think that folks could "get the hang of "using
Reply to All when appropriate. However, even on my own campus,
they seem to forget all too frequently (usually it's more that
they reply to all, when it ought to be personal message, but for
the listserv, it may well be the opposite too often). As a
relative novice, I really don't want to miss out, as I am one of
those "lurkers". Sometimes there is a topic of concern brought up
(and replies made) that I'd not even been aware of.
* Would it be possible to include, in the other instructions at the
bottom of each posting, the information that just hitting reply
sends the message to the entire list, along with instructions for
replying privately?
* I vote to keep comments public and "TRAIN" folks to reply
privately. If you set the default to reply to the individual
directly, you may have even MORE problems. It's a catch 22, but I
err on the side of keeping things public and letting the list
police itself. At times, it may be necessary to send a message
privately to misusers of the listserv. But maybe it's the optimist
in me that sees this as being minimum.
* As a "lurker" I gain immensely from the sharing that goes on. For
me, while the list-serve provides an individual the opportunity to
post an inquiry or to answer to an inquiry, it's also for us to
stay engaged with the "field", even to the point of just being a
third party of sorts. New approaches, materials made available
etc, are there for all of us. This latest FYI "miff" is dead. We
need to bury it and move on.
* While yesterday's "discussion" got a bit ridiculous, I'd much
rather have that and delete what I don't want to read than to miss
the open exchange of ideas, opinions, etc.
* It happens only rarely on this list. It's not like it is everyday.
We are all human and have done it once at some time or another to
someone or some list. Doesn't bother me to delete an email or two.
I am afraid that if all replies would only go to the sender, then
we would miss important discussions, especially when we lurk.
* I have been lurking on this listserv for years. I get the messages
in a daily digest e-mail. Actually, sometimes I've thought about
replying, but haven't taken the time to figure out how to do it.
Maybe you can send a listserv message explaining how to sign up
for the daily E-mail and directions for how to reply to individual
digest e-mails without copying the whole digest into your message.
Please don't make the replies default to private. I'll lose so
much valuable information. As can be seen in the public responses,
people are just plain bad about following directions. If they
don't want their mailboxes cluttered, they should get the messages
in the daily digest. I look forward to all the replies. I've
learned an incredible amount of information through the years.
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