On  Sat, 2 Apr 1994 16:19:55 +1000 PATRICK WILKEN wrote:
>I notice that the poster has mailed it on to
>+100 lists. My first reaction was to send him a fairly terse note about
>creating unnecessary noise, but I am a little bit unsure. He seems to
>have posted to every list with some interest in AI. Is this
>appropriate? I know there are no formal rules, but what's the netiquette
>in these situations?
 
First-it would be nice if folks who want to do such things would learn how
to use LISTSERV's DISTRIBUTE facilty both because it's far less wasteful of
bandwidth and produces MANY fewer mail header records!
 
Second, unless the poster is highly confident that overlapping subcriptions
to the many lists are likely to be infrequent, the appropriate netiquette
is to post a SHORT (paragraph or two) announcement with an email address to
send requests for further details.  That procedure has the added advantage
of using the incoming requests to build a file for future DISTRIBUTEs to a
targetted audience expressly interested in the topic.
 
If there is significant cross subscriptions the poster may well get several
hundred pieces of mail from folks irritated at receiving redundant copies
of a long message (especially since some of them pay real money by the line
or word).  All that negative mail usually makes the point.
 
/s Murphy A. Sewall                             (203) 486-2489 voice
   Professor of Marketing                       (203) 486-5246 fax