Typing help brings up a screen that says type help()

[Joel Goldstick]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 6:54 PM, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 8:40 AM, Joel Goldstick
> <joel.goldstick at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On this list I use reply all (using gmail) because reply takes the
>> first recipient, which is the poster.  I am on another list where this
>> isn't true.
>
> Yes, and I've been on a few lists that have gone through the
> discussion of why it should be one way or the other way.
>
> The biggest problem is that Gmail doesn't have a "reply to list"
> option to select as the default. (Nor do a number of other mail
> clients; I'm not knocking Gmail specifically here, but it's what
> several of us use, so it's the example I'm discussing.) In the absence
> of such, there are basically four possibilities:
>
> 1) The list can be set to send replies to the list
> 1a) You might want to send to the list
> 1b) You might want to send a private message
> 2) The list can be set to send replies to the original poster
> 2a) As above
> 2b) As above
> 3) The list can also be set to send replies somewhere else, but that's
> not germane to this discussion.
>
> In case 1a, it's easy. Everything happens as it should. In case 2b,
> it's also easy. You hit reply, it goes to the original poster, like
> you want. So how do we handle the cross cases?
>
> Case 2a is what python-list and Savoynet are set to. You want to reply
> to the list? Hit Reply-All and then remove the original poster, or hit
> Reply and change the destination. (That's a great option if you have
> only one list. It's a terrible option if you have as many lists as I
> have, because you'll change the destination wrongly.)
>
> Case 1b is how I set up the Gilbert & Sullivan Society Committee
> mailing list. It's meant primarily to be for discussions amongst a
> small group (the committee consists of maybe a dozen people), and most
> of them are not particularly technically adept (the G&S Society is an
> artistic society (we perform light opera/operetta), so most of the
> people who run it are artistic people, although we have for example a
> treasurer who's an accountant); sending replies to the list makes the
> most sense, and keeps the discussion where it needs to be. But how do
> you go about sending a private reply? It's unusual on the committee
> list, but it does happen; and you have to hit Reply or Reply-All, then
> delete the list's name and manually copy and paste (or retype!) the
> sender's address. This is VERY error-prone. It's really easy to
> accidentally tell the list what was supposed to be private. The bigger
> the list, the more common private replies will tend to be.
>
> I would advise huge lists of unrelated people (python-list, Savoynet,
> any general interest group) to have replies go to the poster, and
> small lists of closely related people can consider having replies to
> the list by default. But of course, there'll be exceptions either way.
>
> ChrisA
> --
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

That was enlighting Chris.  I apologize to list readers if they are
getting two versions of everything I send.  I don't get two versions
sent to me, so I assumed others wouldn't either.  I'm not sure why I
assumed that, as it really doesn't make sense.  Maybe gmail filters
one of them for me.  Anyway, I'll do reply all and delete the OP.

-- 
Joel Goldstick
http://joelgoldstick.com