On Nov 27, 2023 at 12:16:54 PM, Eric Lease Morgan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> On Nov 27, 2023, at 2:02 PM, Kevin Hawkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Just realized that this position I posted to jobs.code4lib.org didn't get
> automatically posted to the list for some reason...


We interrupt this program with a bit of administratativia; everybody is strongly encouraged to include some sort of signatory context information in their postings.

Notice my email address above -- [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>  Such an obfuscation of my real email address is considered a feature of the underlying LISTSERV software. It is implemented in order to maintain privacy. Depending on when a person subscribed to the list, their real or obfuscated email address is returned in replies.

On the other hand, our mailing list is not an anonymous bulletin board system, and one needs context in order to evaluate posts. For example, a question posted by a special librarian may be answered differently if the responder were an academic librarian or a public librarian, and the special librarian may want to know. Similarly, an electronic resources librarian's perspective may be different from a full-stack developer's, and knowing such context can be formative when evaluating replies. Many times email addresses provided such context, but with the increasing use of Gmail by our subscribers, addresses like [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> provide zero context, and the problem is exasperated when messages include zero signatures.

The problem of context has yet to become egregious, and I'm sharing this note because: 1) sans context, no one would know from whence I write, and 2) nobody has been posting too anonymously, yet.

We now return you to your normal programming.  :)  

--
Eric Morgan
University of Notre Dame