[time-nuts] mailing list moderation, STATUS, January 2020

[Tom Van Baak]

List -- Welcome to 2020, the 20th year of time-nuts! A few comments...

(1) moderation

You may have noticed that we recently turned off time-nuts list 
'moderation'. We do this now and then. It means postings now immediately 
go to the entire group and archives without human review or delay [1].

So be extra careful about what you post, and also to whom, and how 
often. When the list is 'open' like this you may see an increase in 
posting mistakes, such as html mix-ups, suspect URLs, private email sent 
to a public list, off-topic postings, blank postings, duplicate 
postings, or admin questions.

(2) reply-to

In recent years we have seen issues with how some email clients handle 
replies. Before you hit 'send', double check the To: and Cc: lines to 
make sure there is only one recipient. That recipient should be 
'time-nuts at lists.febo.com'. Any other combination of addresses is likely 
a mistake.

If you do intend to reply to just one person in private, make sure their 
personal email address is in the To: line. Watch out for names like 
"John Doe via time-nuts". That's a pseudo name that expands to the 
entire mailing list; it is not actually their personal email address.

(3) signal-to-noise-ratio

As always on time-nuts, good questions *specifically related to precise 
time & frequency* are always welcome, especially from newcomers [2]. The 
list works best when replies are based on one's solid experience or 
links to technical articles or actual experimentation, rather than 
guesses or quick off-the-cuff comments. The list breaks down when 
threads veer off-topic, or when time-nuts acts like social media, or 
when the sheer volume of postings pushes people away. Please do your 
part to keep the SNR very high on this list.

List administrative questions or comments should go directly to John 
(jra at febo.com) or Tom (tvb at leapsecond.com) rather than to the entire 
1800-member list.

Thanks,
/tvb

[1] Some postings are still temporarily held for manual review: 
attachments over 1 MB (to prevent big mistakes), first-time posters (to 
detect spam), or members with persistent off-topic or email client issues.

[2] An introduction to time-nuts and helpful T&F links: 
http://leapsecond.com/time-nuts.htm