On behalf of myself and some other annoyed listers, I'd like to express
my concern regarding the list's guidelines--not with defiance, but with
genuine concern.
I'm subscribed to approximently ten mailing lists. The typical way for
people to interact on these lists is to top-post. The only moderation
team that ever takes issue with this is the one on this list.
Quoting only relevant parts of an original message is time-consuming and
frustrating for many of us. You'll find that many listers don't even
know what top-posting is. My Email client doesn't prefix or format
quoted lines from an original message in any way, and you cannot expect
people to switch clients or expend much energy on such a silly rule as
this.
Before this guideline was put firmly into place, the Rockbox list was a
helpful and informative resource. Now it is a source of frustration for
me amongst others. I have had many people write privately to me
regarding their frustration with this guideline.
Particularly as this list is full of users of screen-reading and other
assistive technology products, I can guarantee you that the less
tech-savvy listers will simply stop posting, frustrated with trying to
format their messages properly. (Please don't think that I'm in any way implying that blind user's "aren't capable" of formatting in this way, but it does add a needless level of frustration for a beginning user. Please also understand that I'm not advocating *never* quoting relevant parts of an original message along with one's reply - at times, it can be very useful - but to make it a steadfast rule is, I think, frustrating.)
On another note, do you realize how unclear your guidelines actually
are? To give an example, here is an actual quote from your message:
"Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting."
Um...am I missing something?
That's all I have to say, other than the fact that your listers are not
happy, and to imply that listers are "purposely" defying guidelines is
wrong. I do also feel that although you're moderating the list on your own time, it would have been decent to send me an official word, stating that I'm on moderation--particularly as I didn't violate any guidelines since you warned me not to, and have no intention of doing so.
Regards, and even though I'm not thrilled with the current state of the list, you should feel genuinely proud for the easy-to-use, accessible MP3 player firmware that you help to develop.
Grant