On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, Francoise Becker wrote:
> For this purpose, it might make more sense to use "Topics" rather
> than sub-lists.
> Just a couple of caveats on Topics:
> - If it's an unmoderated discussion list, you may end up spending as
> much time policing the use of the topics as you currently do
> defending your narrow focus. (e.g. a frequent message I end up having
> to send to my list subscribers is "When you send an off-topic message
> you MUST prefix your subject with 'OT:', that's Oh-Tee-Colon").
>
> - Subscribers to the Digest or Index versions get ALL topics -- they
> can't pick and choose which ones they receive in their digest.

When "topics" was introduced, I thought "nifty idea."  The more I learned
about how it worked the less my enthusiasm.  I would not use "topics"
for any list, knowing how little attention subscribers pay to even the
most clear instructions, and the complexity, with little benefit, with
which the listowner must contend with "topics."

A good idea which soured due to the complexity of implentation.

Douglas Winship   [log in to unmask]