[Tutor] help [Please use better subject lines than "help!"]

[Danny Yoo]

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005, R. Alan Monroe wrote:

> >     ok i have learned that on the python shell or new window you can
> > type in......>>>>print "hello world"...and the output is ..'hello
> > world'.. or you can put in anything realy and it say it back to
> > you.....is this a program or what
>
> Yep, that's a program. Just an ultra, ultra-simple one.
>
> > how to write better programs
>
> Have you learnt the "if" statement yet? If not, that's the next thing
> you want to learn. Tell us if you get stuck.

[meta: mailing list admin stuff]

Hi Jeff,

And when you tell us, please make the subject line a little bit more
descriptive.  Your last two messages had subject lines like "help!" or
"help me!".  We wouldn't be here if we didn't want to help.  *grin*

There's actually a very pratical reason why you should be more
descriptive: Your messages are actually not getting through directly to
the list because the mailing list software sees the naked word "help!" and
thinks that it's an administrative request!

Such messages get put on to a "moderation queue" that must be manually
curated by some poor, brain-dead mailing list administrator.  I would
laugh at that person, except that I am that brain-dead mailing list admin.
And I have to manually release messages that are caught in the moderation
queue from time to time, which sometime explains why it looks like it
takes a while for you messages to get to the list.

So if you can, please make my life easier: try to make your subject
headers more descriptive, like:

    "Is this a program?"

A descriptive subject line should avoid manual moderation from the mailing
list software.


We're also trying to encourage good mailing list habits because all the
messages on the list are archived:

    http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/

and it is much easier for people to learn and find information from the
archives if messages have useful titles.


Best of wishes to you!