On Sat, Oct 01, 2022 at 06:10:48AM -0400, The Wanderer wrote: > On 2022-10-01 at 05:46, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: > > > Debian-user is a mailing list provided for support for Debian users, > > and to facilitate discussion on relevant topics. > > > > Some guidelines which may help explain how the list works: > > Allow me, if you will, to share my experience on receiving each month's > copy of the mailing-list FAQ: > > "Oh, there's this month's repost of the FAQ." >
That's probably a reasonable assumption. It's manually posted by me: it's the same text, fairly well, each month (modulo any copying error), it's not currently in version control. Now, I might be prepared to change that if I were to make any significnt changes. > "Well, there's no version number or last-changed date or other > information like that, so I can't tell whether or not it's been updated." > > "I know I've read the FAQ before, so in the absence of any reason to > think that it may have changed, I'll just assume that it hasn't, and > skip reading it because I probably already know what it says." > Also a fair assumption: see above. This is really intended for new readers - if I do the right thing, it comes early in the month on the first page, relatively near the top. Anybody reading the list - and I *really* advise folks to read lists rather than posting in passing - should see it. > > By contrast, if the FAQ *did* include an indication of when it was last > updated, I would have one of two lines of reaction. Either: > > "Oh, there's this month's repost of the FAQ." > > "The version number is the same as last month's / the last-changed date > is more than a month old, so I know I've already read it." > > "I'll skip reading it, because I already know what it says." > > Or: > > "Oh, there's this month's repost of the FAQ." > > "Hey, the version number has been increased / I don't know what version > number last month's posting had / the last-changed date is recent, so > there might be information in there that I'm not familiar with." > > "I'll read the whole thing, just to be sure I'm up to date on it." > (lots of good reasoning skipped for space) > > I therefore reiterate my suggestion, from what I think was one of the > first times (a previous version of?) this FAQ was (re)posted, that some > versioning information be attached to - and posted along with each copy > of - this FAQ. > OK, understood. All best, as ever, Andy Cater > -- > The Wanderer > > The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one > persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all > progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw >
