Re: [Pan-users] Ping: Duncan

[Duncan]

Steven D'Aprano posted on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:32:42 +1100 as excerpted:

> On 05/11/12 09:18, Bob wrote:
> 
>> Remember my Heat problem?
> 
> If this is a private message to Duncan, you should send it directly to
> him instead of bothering the entire list. His email address is readily
> available from one of his previous emails.

Do note that if he's using gmane, as I do, for whatever reason, whoever 
signed up this list for gmane set it up for encrypted email addresses, so 
we don't see the unmunged email address at all.

However, little known gmane fact: Those encrypted addresses are actually 
valid forwarding addresses: They're gmane.org addresses so gmane gets 
them, decrypts the address, puts the mail thru spam-assassin (I believe), 
and if it doesn't get scored as spam, forwards it to the unencrypted 
address.

Once you know your encrypted gmane address then, you can use it 
elsewhere, where you might wish to give someone an email address, but 
don't want it to be your "real" address.  Of course, if they know about 
gmane, they can search it using that address and get a list profile on 
you that way, that they might not get otherwise, but...

So even if he's reading via gmane and thus seeing the encrypted 
addresses, they are actually valid and he could use them.  But it's not 
necessarily the case that he knew that...

Meanwhile, unfortunately I don't have a real news account or access to 
(especially) alt.* ATM.  So unless there's enough info there to google 
it, and google happens to have it indexed for some reason, it's unlikely 
I'd have access to the post anyway.  (I'll probably google it and see, 
but haven't yet.)

But I appreciate the thought.

Meanwhile (2), while it's in particular to me, it's a followup to an 
earlier thread on the list, where he was having overheating problems 
running pan.  I posted that if pan's triggering overheating, there's 
something seriously wrong elsewhere and recommended that he check the 
hardware, etc, before the problems got worse, as that's not normal.

As such, while specifically in reply to that so the ping makes sense, it 
is arguably still topical enough to be interesting to other readers on 
the list.

So it could have gone either way, really.  Personally, I'd have probably 
posted to the list, but mindful of the fact that it /was/ a list post, 
I'd likely have included a bit more of the backstory (more or less what I 
did in the meanwhile (2) paragraph), for those who weren't around for the 
original thread or who were but didn't make the connection.  If I was 
/really/ ambitious, I'd have either dug up the old thread and made the 
reply to it, or given a link to the gmane (web-side) thread.  However, 
that would have depended on my mood and how pressed for time, etc, I 
was.  Ordinarily I'd probably have simply done the 1-2 backstory 
explanation sentences and would have called that good.

So yeah, either way, but without the backstory, it's not like you could 
be assumed to know that either, so what I guess I'm saying is that 
there's room for tolerance both of his original post and of your gentle 
reminder that a direct ping, without some obvious information making it 
list material, probably should have gone to me directly.

IMO anyway, value it as you wish. =:^)

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman