Jeff Woods wrote:

> How about this constructive suggestion instead, if feasible: Can Jeff Kell
> make the subject tags mandatory and have messages that don't have them
> bounce (perhaps with an explanation and list of allowed tags)?  This way
> those people who can't or won't figure out how to properly label their
> messages will at least have a chance to follow the guidelines instead of
> wandering along obliviously littering hundreds of people's email.

It doesn't quite work that way.  The accepted "tags" for the subject
line were set some time ago as:

                       Administrivia
                       Cobol
                       CS
                       Image
                       Java
                       Mpe
                       OT
                       Posix
                       SQL
                       Sysman
                       Web

If none of these is found, it goes into the "other" category.  While
we have had (some) success in getting OT posts labelled as such, we
have had few if any posts bearing the other tags.  Unfortunately there
is no "default" tag.

You can go to the subscription maintenance page (URL in the bottom
banner of every message) and uncheck the "OT" topic to avoid getting
the OT threads, but if you unmark "Other" at this point, you probably
won't get any messages, other than my occasional Administrivia :-)
I sincerely doubt that everyone will start properly tagging their
on-topic posts (after all, the list of topics is probably too narrow).
So we have to focus on keeping OT topics marked OT.

Perhaps if we all get a bit more aggressive about making sure that we
tag all "OT:" posts or risk off-line flaming by readers who did not
appreciate your omission of the "OT:" tag...

Jeff

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