[sdiy] Re: Replying

[N.E. Johnson]

Well, what a hornet's nest we've upturned...

There seem to be about three subthreads weaving through the main one, I'll
try and summarise and see what happens.

1) Digests - Mike asked for the synth-diy emails in digest form, which
produced a plethora of "yes I like them"/"oh no I don't".  As already
mentioned in a previous post, make this a user-settable option and
everyone will be happy (within the context of to digest or not - your
overall personal happiness is in no way guaranteed :-)

2) Putting [sdiy] tag in posts - I think the original idea was sound - to
help people sort synth-diy messages out from all the other emails they
get.  But as pointed out, most email readers have some sort of
filters/rules for automagically doing this: I admit that it wasn't until
yesterday that I found out that PINE (UNIX-based text email reader) does
this too - my (email) life is now sweeter.  Sadly, for those who are not
so equipped then I can see that the [sdiy] tag could be useful.  Could
this be made a subscriber option?

On the upside, some synth-diy readers have expressed a preference
for them.  On the downside some synth-diy readers have expressed a
dislike for them.  Other lists I subscribe to also use tags; atleast
[sdiy] is much shorter than [EMU-ESI32_and_4000].  I suppose it is change,
and some people like change, others don't.

One downside to tags is illustrated by the above subject line...

3) Reply-to - it seems to me that the purpose of a mailing list is that
the majority of emails are for *everyone* to be able to read.  So I think
the default behaviour of hitting the REPLY button should be to email back
to the list, rather than the original sender.  In my mind, an email list
is like everyone sitting around one large table, where everyone's input
can be picked out by anyone who cares to listen.  Any private matters
should be dealt with outside of the meeting room (as they would do in real
life).

I agree with Tony:

> I just have to think only five years ago, the whole idea of talking
> across the world with fellow synth-DIYers was unthinkable to me.

And occassionally meeting up with them too!

I think this is possibly the best mailing list I've come across, and I've
been tuned in for about 3-4 years now.  It's fab, brill, ace, smashing,
great, groovy, stonking ... you get the idea.

Without exception, we all owe Rick a big hand for running this list, and
probably a virtual pint of beer too.

All together now:

The Synth Builder's Prayer
-----------------------------------------
Our Moog, which ARP in waveform,
Filter be thy Gain.
Thy waveshape be square.
Thy cutoff be 24dB,
As it is in Oberheim.
Give us this VCA our board of bread.
And solder together our circuits,
As we forgive those
Who think analogue is dead.
And lead us not into unwanted oscillation,
But decouple our supplies:
For sine is the pure tone,
And the power supply, and the modulation,
Forever and ever.
Amen.

--
Neil Johnson :: Computer Laboratory :: University of Cambridge ::
  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nej22           +44 (0) 1223 334 477