Re: LYNX-DEV Lynx service desk

[Bela Lubkin]

Jim Spath wrote:

> I'll go back to my original point, which was that some questions to the
> lynx-dev list go unanswered.  I suggested a tracking mechanism, so that
> folks who like to answer these questions can do it without missing some
> questions, or duplicating work.  I looked at the archive for December, and
> quickly found 4 reasonable questions that seemed unanswered (not even an
> rtfm).

They may have seemed unanswered, but it's not unlikely that someone
replied privately to the person who asked the question.  Why don't you
investigate that by mailing directly to the authors of those four
messages; ask how they feel they were serviced?  I answer an awful lot
of questions in public (on the SCO newsgroups and on SCO-internal
mailing lists).  I often learn afterwards that the question had already
been answered, but privately, so I didn't know not to waste my effort
re-answering it.

Seems like you could accomplish almost as much by keeping a mailbox of
the messages on the alias.  Read it.  Delete messages that have been
answered.  A "hard core" of unanswered messages will remain.  Once in a
while, maybe once a week, you can forward those messages back to the
list with a reminder -- "Hey, we haven't answered this guy's question,
anyone have something for him?"  I bet 80% of the time you'd get back an
apologetic -- "Oh, I helped him right when he asked that, guess I should
have Cc'd the list..."

If your sample of 4 unanswered messages in December is representative,
you'd be forwarding about one message a week.  No big deal.  Actually,
don't forward the messages, just post flora URLs.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't set up a bureaucracy to act as the
"conscience" for the list.  It's a one-person job.  If you add enough
bureaucracy then it'll be a 10-person job and the service will be 1/10
as good, like a government...

>Bela<
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