[Air-L] (in favor of) Re: Change of default reply setting on air-l

[Wesley Shumar]

Its never a good idea when thinking about the rules by which a group  
or an organization are structured to depend on the actions of  
individuals to support that group.  This is the failure of  
individualistic thinking.  "If we just have a few more people with  
strong character and a willingness to contribute to the good of the  
society the current economic crisis could be over."  As social  
scientists we know that structures have a huge impact on the ways that  
people act.  Agency always occurs within the context of some set of   
grooves that are there.  People can step out of the groove and do  
other things, but in fact many people in many situations won't.

I am most impressed by Phillipa's comments, which in a very measured  
way point out that the gifts we all receive - this generalized  
reciprocity that many of us have been claiming are an extraordinary  
benefit of the Internet - depend upon replies going to the list.  And  
that on balance, these gifts are worth having to delete or filter a  
few emails.

I would suggest this is a big deal and if we rely on people hitting  
the 'reply all' button, then 1) this is very naive thinking about  
social behavior and we ought to go back to Soc 101 and 2) there will  
be many more gifts lost to the community.
Wes


Wesley Shumar
Professor of Anthropology
Department of Culture and Communication
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-895-2060
shumarw at drexel.edu
http://www.shumarw.com/





On May 10, 2009, at 10:42 PM, Richard Forno wrote:

>
> Holly, thanks for this change, even though it seems that I'm in the  
> minority who appreciates it.
>
> IMHO contrary to much of what's been written against this change  
> thus far, this minor tweak does absolutely nothing to contrain Info- 
> sharing or group conversations here in the slightest - any list  
> member can reach the entire list, they just need to click a  
> different button on their mail client .   Big deal.   Maybe a few of  
> us have to think about which button to click when replying to list  
> traffic a few times until it becomes second nature here after all  
> these years, but that's about it.  So again - big deal!   Call me  
> naive, but  I don't understand why folks are so adamantly-opposed to  
> this very minor change.....based on the comments  tonight, you'd  
> think the AIR execs were moderating AIR-L or enacting some other  
> oppressive policy upon us.
>
> I do not think it's unreasonable for someone to have to click "reply- 
> all" to reach everyone when on a mailing list ... in fact, AIR-L is  
> the *only* list that I am on that didn't do that by default, and  
> I've been "burned" by having a note intended in response to one  
> person being sent to the whole list because I was 'conditioned'  
> based on how every other list I've been on functions.
>
> That said, if any CMC specialists wiser than me want to explain how  
> this is such a detriment to the flow of information here (other than  
> perhaps 'raising the bar' in some minor way by forcing people to re- 
> think which button they click to reply-to-everyone), please  
> enlighten me.
>
> Frankly, speaking as a technologist and long-time email list admin  
> myself, I just don't see what the fuss is all about.
>
> -rick
> (apparently an "AIR-L heretic")
>
>
>
>
> On May 10, 2009, at 19:19 , jeremy hunsinger wrote:
>
>> gotta say, that... I think this is very detrimental to the  
>> community.  This change fundamentally destroys the conversation  
>> construed as a group, and forces it to be between individuals,  
>> unless they consciously choose otherwise.   This is a change I've  
>> always been against  and I am against it now.  Air-l should be  
>> about collegiality and sharing, not about replying to  
>> individuals.   I think this setting should be reverted asap.
>>
>> On May 10, 2009, at 7:11 PM, Holly Kruse wrote:
>>
>>> Up until now on air-l, replies to messages posted to the list  
>>> went, by
>>> default, to air-l.  The default reply setting for air-l has been  
>>> changed.
>>> As of now, replies to list posts will go privately to the message  
>>> poster and
>>> not to air-l.  If you would like people on the list to see your  
>>> reply, you
>>> will need to manually insert the air-l address into the To: field  
>>> of your
>>> reply.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your attention to this change,
>>>
>>> Holly Kruse
>>> List Manager, air-l
>>> holly at aoir.org
>>> holly-kruse at utulsa.edu
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>
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>
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