On Feb 24, 2010, at 2:39 PM, Jerry wrote:

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Seriously, I just have to ask this question. Why mark via the subject line a message as "OFF LIST" and then send it via the normal list framework. Doing so only insures that the message is actually "ON LIST" irregardless of what nomenclature is used in the subject line. If a message is truly supposed to be "OFF LIST", then why not send it directly to its intended recipient(s)? If, on the other hand, it is meant for general review by the groups members, then why mark it "OFF LIST" to begin with?

Um, wow. Like you've never intended to send someone an off-list message, got finished typing it, then forgot to change the To: line?

Not that I am aware of

Well, you're less error-prone than I, then. I've been "doing
email" for upwards of thirty years and still make that mistake from
time to time.

and why would I put a declaration like that in the subject line if I was sending it directly to its intended recipient?

That's simple list(member) etiquette. When you see a message pop
into your inbox with the same (or similar) subject as a list thread,
it's natural to assume that it's a list message. When replying, one
might be tempted to set the reply to the list. If the person sending
the "off list" message doesn't want that information to accidentally
become public, that person should say so.

In any case, I certainly would not follow it up with an "ON LIST" declaration. Admit it, it does seem rather absurd.

Well, the "on list" part is kinda obvious. ;)

          -Dave

-- Dave McGuire Port Charlotte, FL

Jerry put forth on 2/24/2010 1:39 PM:

Not that I am aware of and why would I put a declaration like that in the subject line if I was sending it directly to its intended recipient? In any case, I certainly would not follow it up with an "ON LIST" declaration. Admit it, it does seem rather absurd.

In any case, it makes no difference to me. I was just curious.

Jerry, this is pretty simple. If you'd been paying attention to the thread in question you'd already have figured out what happened. Apparently you only read subject lines, not the actual content of list messages.

If you go back and read the thread, you'll see that at one point Timo asked me to send him a copy of an mbox file from my production dovecot server. This request was the very last line of his email. This is private data, obviously. I replied off list with the URL. Later, I replied back to the list omitting the private URL, which was the only reason to go off list in the first place. When I replied back to the list, I forgot to change the subject line. When I realized the mistake, I corrected it. Simple, logical.

To answer the "yeah but" question on the tip of your tongue, yes, I could have sent Timo a separate email with the URL. However, I'm no list nub, and experience tells me that Timo would have continued replying through the off list channel, and thus no one on the list, or those later searching the archives, would benefit from the exchange.

Is this all clear for you now? That **OFF LIST** was a simple mistake of forgetting to edit the subject line before getting the discussion back on the list?

-- Stan