BeDevTalk Information and Charter

BeDevTalk Information and Charter

Thank you for participating in Be's BeDevTalk electronic mailing list. This message is automatically sent to all subscribers once a month. You can also view this document on the web by visiting the Be web site:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/lists/bedevtalk.html

Please take a moment to review the information in this message, especially before you post to the list for the first time, or before you send mail with a question about the list.

Table of Contents

The BeDevTalk discussion list
The BeDevTalk Frequently Asked Questions list
Sending mail to the list
How to unsubscribe
Automatic unsubscription
Other list commands and features
Web resources for more info
Who to contact for help

1. The BeDevTalk Discussion List

The BeDevTalk discussion list is an open discussion list covering developing software on and for the BeOS. The list was created as a forum for discussing issues important to BeOS developers, including programming, tools, techniques, business issues, and the like.

BeDevTalk is loosely moderated. This means that while there are no technical restrictions on what may be posted or discussed, we ask that list members generally stay within the boundaries of issues which are specifically relevant to BeOS developers, and which do not have better forums elsewhere. Those looking for a more unstructured environment are encouraged to participate in the thriving comp.sys.be.advocacy or comp.sys.be.programmer newsgroups.

Desirable topics of discussion might include:

What should I think about when sending BMessages?
Here are some performance numbers for BMessages I collected.
Could BMessages be applied to solve problem X?
What is an efficient way to do XX?
[ANNOUNCE] New coding tool
What should a preferences API look like?
is_computer_on() or is_computer_on_fire()
For Sale: BeBox 133 (or 66, etc.)
Be's excellent (or lousy) decision about X
Bugs which affect your code
Occasional informational posts from Be, Inc.

Topics which are discouraged might include:

Anything covered by the FAQ (see next section)
General tech support questions
Non-code related bug reports
Scripting Wars revisited
PowerPC vs Intel (or any hardware religion)
BeOS vs Mac OS vs Windows vs Amiga vs etc. (or any software religion)
[ANNOUNCE] MyUsefulApp (non-coding tool)
Kernel Joe and the Multithreaded Five
Mine is bigger than yours
"Me too", "I agree", ":-(", and other contentless posts

In particular, do not use the list as a technical support forum for user-level problems. A user-level problem is one that you are having that does not involve BeOS code. The correct forums for technical support are, in order:

The Be FAQs
The Be Support section
Be Customer Support
BeUserTalk mailing list (but only after trying first other three)

As you can see, the goal is to create a discussion list with a reasonably high signal-to-noise ratio. There is latitude for playfulness and humor, but members of the list should keep in mind that it becomes difficult to get value out of the list if discussions wander too far from the charter of the list. In general, we simply ask that members exercise judgement when posting to the list.

If you see a truly off-topic post, please send the poster a private message (don't post to the list) suggesting that it might belong on another mailing list or news group, and CC listmaster@be.com.

The BeDevTalk Frequently Asked Questions list

Thanks to the efforts of a number of individuals outside of Be, BeDevTalk has a Frequently Asked Questions list, or FAQ. This FAQ answers many of the most common questions newcomers to BeDevTalk ask. You can access the FAQ at the BeGeek site (which is an outstanding resource for BeOS developers):

http://www.begeek.com/ArticleDisplay.servlet?ArticleID=157

Everyone who joins BeDevTalk should read the FAQ at least once before posting to the list. Reading the FAQ, and only asking questions which are not answered in the FAQ, improves the list experience for everyone, and improves the likelihood that your other questions will be answered as well.

The Be List Guy wishes to publicly thank Ingmar Krusch, the principle author of the document, and all others who have contributed to the BeDevTalk FAQ, or who do so in the future.

Sending Mail to the List

To send mail to the list, create your message with a descriptive subject, and send the message to:

bedevtalk@be.com

You can only send messages to the list if you are a subscriber. You must send your messages from the account with which you subscribed to the list.

The list server is very picky about "From:" addresses, and if your apparent address changes, due to changes on your network or mail server, you may be unable to send messages. If this happens, send mail to listmaster@be.com and request a manual address change from your old address to the new one.

How to Unsubscribe from the List

To unsubscribe from the list, send mail to listserv@be.com with the following command in the subject field of your message:

unsubscribe bedevtalk

You can also use the form on the Be web site to send the correct unsubscribe message:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/mailinglists.html

You can only unsubscribe from the list using the account with which you subscribed to the list. The list server is very picky about "From:" addresses, and if your apparent address changes, due to changes on your network or mail server, you may be unable to unsubscribe. If this happens, send mail to listmaster@be.com and request a manual unsubscription.

Automatic Unsubscription

Due to the large quantities of bounced e-mail our lists receive, the list server is very strict about eliminating e-mail addresses which have delivery problems. Three bounces in 7 days and an address will be automatically unsubscribed.

We regret any problems this might cause our subscribers, but our lists have too many subscribers and too much traffic to avoid automatic unsubscription of e-mail addresses.

If you are unsubscribed in this way, you can simply re-subscribe to any of Be's lists, following the instructions on our web site:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/mailinglists.html

Other List Commands and Features

You can subscribe to BeDevTalk in either normal or digest mode. In normal mode, you will be sent individual messages as they are received by the list server. In digest mode, you will receive an entire day's worth of messages combined into a single "digest" message.

To change (or subscribe) to the digest version of the list, send mail to listserv@be.com with the following command in the subject field of your message:

subscribe bedevtalk digest

To change (or subscribe) to the normal version of the list, send mail to listserv@be.com with the following command in the subject field of your message:

subscribe bedevtalk

To receive a copy of the Be List Server Help file, send mail to listserv@be.com with the following command in the subject field of your message:

help

Or you can visit the Be web site for the same information, as well as links to other resources:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/mailinglists.html

List Resources on the Web

The Be web server contains a wealth of information about Be's electronic mailing lists, as well as answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about Be, the BeOS, developing for the BeOS, etc. Here are references to some of the pages you might find useful.

For information regarding the Be electronic mailing lists:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/mailinglists.html

For searchable archives of BeDevTalk:

http://www.abisoft.com/cgi-bin/bedev/ (searchable)
http://www.bespecific.com/bedevtalk/index.shtml (structured)

General questions and answers about Be, the BeOS, etc.:

http://www.be.com/support/qandas/

General technical support for the BeOS:

http://www.be.com/support/assist/custsupport.html

Who to Contact for More Help

If you have problems with or other questions about this or any of Be's mailing lists, send e-mail to:

listmaster@be.com

If you are a BeOS developer, and have specific questions about programming the BeOS which are not or cannot be answered on this list, send a request to Be Developer Support using the DTS Query form in the Registered Developer area of the Be web site:

http://www.be.com/developers/registered_entry.html

If you are a registered Be Developer, and need to change your address (physical or electronic), visit the Registered Developer area of the Be web site, and update your information there:

http://www.be.com/developers/registered_entry.html

If you have other Registered Developer questions, contact Be Developer Services at:

devservices@be.com