[sf-lug] Ah, us listadmins get mail ... <sigh>

Michael Paoli Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu
Fri May 1 20:04:28 PDT 2020


[ONLIST]
> From: "Bobbie Sellers" <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com>
> Subject: Re: [sf-lug] Ah, us listadmins get mail ... <sigh>
> Date: Fri, 1 May 2020 19:50:26 -0700

references/excerpts, my comment/reply bits in-line:

> On 5/1/20 7:18 PM, Michael Paoli wrote:
>> Ah, us listadmins get mail ... <sigh>
>>
>> No, I'm not listadmin on SF-LUG list, thank-you-very-much,
>> but I do handle such for BALUG.org (4 lists, numerous email aliases),
>> and BerkeleyLUG.COM.
>>
>> And, yeah, we get emails ... frustrating emails, some particularly so
>> when folks still can't read and follow relatively clear simple
>> instructions, even when it's almost spoon fed to them.
>> E.g.:
>> https://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-talk/2020-May/000207.html
>>
>> I mean it's not that hard.  E.g. ...
>
>     You have my sympathy.  I have seen the same thing on

> they have the excuse
>
> that it messes up the brain as well as endurance and strength. Maybe  
> it is technophobia,
>
> but I took the instructions, made them as simple as possible but the  
> last person to
>
> see the file was too far gone to figure out how to subscribe.  I  
> think Web Mail has
>
> caused a dumbing down.

Yeah, there's lots of different, uh, "reasons".
Some just aren't up to it (but somehow were when they subscribed? ...
maybe they had someone do it for them back then, and they don't have
that anymore ... who knows).

Some are capable, but just can't be bothered.

In the most recent case ... I got a bit curious, did wee bit 'o web search
(after the exchanges and such).  It seems most likely this is one who is
exceedingly capable and quite technical enough, likely rather to highly
entitled, and just doesn't give a shite and can't be bothered, and expects
everyone else to do most of their "lower level" work.  Well, I ain't their
paid staff.  If they can't be bothered, they can have their paid staff do
it (and that's probably what they do most of the time).  I am not their
unpaid slave.  Screw that.  If they won't lift a finger when they're more
than capable of doing so, then that can be their problem.  Not gonna make
it mine.

>> Subscribe:
>> web page
>> put in email address
>> put in password
>> click
>> (generally double opt-in ...
>> receive email,
>> reply or click link)
>> boom - subscribed
>>
>> Unsubscribe:
>> web page
>> put in email address
>> put in password
>> a few clicks
>> boom - unsubscribed
>> Don't have/know/remember password?, add steps:
>> click send password reminder
>> receive email with password
>>
>> Can also be done entirely via email - subscribing and/or unsubscribing,
>> details generally in the headers (but alas, almost nobody ever looks at
>> that ... but some email clients make it quite easy ... just click ...)
>>
>> Anyway, far too many folks that somehow manage to get them subscribed to
>> list(s) and later decided they don't want to be subscribed, somehow are,
>> or become (or feign) inability to follow those simple steps, or even put
>> in the least bit of effort in reading and following simple instructions.
>> How in the heck they get them selves subscribed, but can't figure out or
>> be bothered to get themselves unsubscribed when the want, is, however,
>> beyond me.
>>
>> Oooh, I think SF-LUG also could use some more volunteers as listadmin!
>> Who's up for it!  Yes, you can share such excitement too!  (Okay, at least
>> fortunately such emails aren't highly frequent ... but they are recurrent,
>> and there's a slow endless trickle/dribble supply of them).
>>
>> Oh, yeah, and (hey, add it on your resume or whatever?), knowing how to
>> manage lists and be a mailman list admin is a useful skill (much of it also
>> transferable to most other lists, and probably other areas too).




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