[20823] in Athena Bugs
Re: clearcerts vs. clear-netscape-password, etc.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Camilla R Fox)
Thu Sep 26 17:25:39 2002
Message-Id: <200209262125.RAA08665@red-herring.mit.edu>
To: "t. belton" <tbelton@MIT.EDU>
cc: bug-infoagents@MIT.EDU, web-agents@MIT.EDU, netscape-release@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 26 Sep 2002 16:55:04 EDT."
<Pine.GSO.4.33L.0209261623330.23121-100000@iphigenia.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 17:25:37 -0400
From: Camilla R Fox <cfox@MIT.EDU>
> I don't generally want to send to a lot of lists because I don't want to
> be spamming right and left with browser information. What I would LIKE is
> to be able to tell one person that represents each group with a need to
> know, and have that person tell the group.
I don't think this is a good approach; there's a lot of volunteer support
that happens around MIT, and a lot of people wearing multiple hats.
If I think something should have been announced, I go look through
obvious mail archives for it; I don't store every bit of mail that my
boss sends me, in my personal mailbox, forever, nor do I expect to need
to ask someone for information that got mailed out.
We're just not that hierarchical.
> But this has not worked. Today
> I got a request from someone on OLC which said, "Hey, this document about
> certificates you wrote is useful - can we use some of it to make stock
> answers?" And I was polite because it was clear I had not told the right
> people, but basically my answer was, "Who did you think I had written that
> page for, if not OLC?"
It's really odd to have the canonical documentation be in a developer's
homedir. We have established repositories for documentation, and it's
confusing when you don't use them.
> I have talked about some of these issues many times in many places. As it
> stands, some of the people I need to reach are on web-agents and nowhere
> else convenient; some of them are on the increasingly misnamed
> netscape-release; some of them are on f_ls; some on cfyi, apparently (a
> list I seldom use because I've never been clear on its exact function and
> who it's supposed to reach); some are on the Business Liaison Team - and
> so on and so on ....
cfyi is the consultant's FYI list. People doing Athena support (OLC,
in particular) are strongly urged to read it regulairly. It's probably
a bug that the f_l's and other interested people aren't necessarily
subscribed, but note that OLC is the canonical place for other poeple,
including them, to get Athena support.
(Let me try to remedy that in the case of the f_l's, in a few minutes;
other I/S groups may be less appropriate.)
olc-stock is the appropriate place for submissions to the OLC Stock
Answers. The stock answers are the appropriate place for FAQ-type
documentation to live.
software-announce is appropriate for announcements of newly available
software, including software in a testing (but available) state.
> I think, therefore, it is the wrong idea to expect me to be able to
> broadcast Mozilla information to everyone on all those lists who need it,
> especially since at any given time I have a fairly fuzzy idea of who needs
> it and who doesn't.
Well, it's not too hard for the maintainers of other software.
That Mozilla touches a lot of people's lives increases your obligation
to send announcements, rather than decreasing it.
> We have tried in the past to make better-targeted
> lists for just the people who have a need and interest to know. They have
> always mutated into something they weren't supposed to be.
I supported the idea at the time, but I can see now that it doesn't work
so well. I'm sorry to have mislead you.
> I tried making
> a Mozilla web page as a useful drop point for information - not enough
> people went to it or knew where it was, apparently, despite my sending
> the URL hither and yon.
I only saw it in mail to bugs@mit.edu; OLC's the first line of support,
usually intended to have someone cluefull confirm that it's a bug.
I've been encouraging consultants to keep a close eye on bugs@mit.edu, but
with only limited success.
> We DID an
> announcement. Or at least I thought we did at the time. This should be old
> news!
I can't say for sure that it never crossed my mailbox, but it missed me,
and I'm usually well informed about this sort of thing.
I think hitting cfyi with all your announcements and links will accomplish
a lot of what's needed. People on there have the power to update stock
answers, etc.
-Camilla
