Possible Modifications to "mail" Default Behavior

Oct 4 22:16 UTC 1995

This topic got raised in staff mail and in the staff conference.  It's a
small point, but one that could stand some public discussion before we
decide what to do.

I had suggested some small changes to the way the "mail" program is
configured on Grex.  These would not effect "elm" or "pine" in any way.
Three things:

  (1)  Turn off the "Cc:" prompt.  It is not obvious to newusers what it
       means when the system says

         Cc:

       after they have entered a mail message and waits for input. Many
       type things like "quit" or "help".  "Help" sends a copy of their
       message to staff (sometimes interesting stuff).  Other things cause
        bounce messages (since the account doesn't exist) which make the
        user think their mail didn't go through.

        If we made this change, "mail" would no longer say "Cc:".  It would
       just stop after they typed the dot or control-D to end the text.

  (2)  Turn on the "more" pager for long messages in mail.  This means it
       will take a bit longer to read messages more than 24 lines long,
       since the system will be launching a "more" process, but text won't
       scroll off your screen anymore.  With modern fast modems, controlling
        screen scrolling with ^S/^Q is for the birds, and not everyone has
        scrollback.

  (3)  Filter some of the more useless mail headers that are displayed when
        reading mail.  All the "Recieved" and "Message Id" lines aren't
       really interesting.  We could make all but "From" "To" "Subject"
        "Date" and "Cc" disappear.

I feel these changes would make "mail" friendlier to newusers.  However,
if we make them, they will effect *all* users.  Of course, any user can
undo any of these changes by doing things like putting "set askcc" in their
.mailrc file, but it would clearly require some adjustment for many users.

In general, I think it is reasonable to ask the users to suffer some
changes that make the system more approachable for our new users, even if
in small ways.

response 2 of 95:

Oct 5 01:56 UTC 1995

Jan, one thing I forget to mention: When we first moved to the Sun-3 with
SunOS 4.1.1, mail wasn't configured by default to ask for the "Cc:". We
got *alot* of complaints from people saying "Why doesn't mail ask for
a Cc: anymore?"

response 4 of 95:

Oct 5 03:17 UTC 1995

#1 and #3 would actually require changing the program.  Do we have source?
This other stuff just requires fiddling with configuration files.

#2:  I don't think I've ever met a person new to mail who was able to figure
out on their own what "Cc:" meant.  Those of us used to it, may miss it, but
if anyone wants it back, all they have to do is type

        !echo "set askcc" >> ~/.mailrc

Any user experienced enough to miss the "Cc:" prompt can probably manage
that.  I think the minor confusion this will cause old users is a small
price to pay for being a bit nicer to newusers.

Hey, and it means less staff mail.

response 6 of 95:

Oct 5 04:50 UTC 1995

I feel about the same way.

response 8 of 95:

Oct 5 10:49 UTC 1995

There was some pretty serious mass confusion when the Cc: prompt was
missing on the Sun 3.  I definitely lean toward the idea of steering
new users toward another mailer, rather than mail.  There's even a staff
plan to do that, once we switch the default terminal type from "dumb"
to "vt100".

response 10 of 95:

Oct 5 16:17 UTC 1995

I just got a help request from a user who was wondering why messags kept
appearing on her screen with words from mail she had sent.  Stumped me
until she mentioned that each word was followed by "user unknown".

At least for sending mail, I think "mail" is fast and easy to use.  Except
for the "Cc:" thing.

response 12 of 95:

Oct 5 20:55 UTC 1995

Ooh.  I agree, for sending mail, 'mail' makes sense for anyone.  Good point.
I was just thinking about reading/replying with mail being bad for newbies.

response 14 of 95:

Oct 5 23:13 UTC 1995

Re 9: Was that me?  I remember a long time ago sending a response to
a newbie, saying something like "Fascinating, it alphabetized the Cc:
line".  Weird....

response 16 of 95:

Oct 6 13:33 UTC 1995

I *would* like to make Grex usable for kindergarteners.  I'd want the
fancier interfaces to be available, but I don't believe in tossing everyone
into them.

I certainly knew what "Cc:" meant at the end of a letter, but I sure didn't
know what it meant the first time it popped up on my computer screen after
writing a letter.  Almost all of the helpseekers I've explained this to
understood it after it was pointed out to them.  It's not ignorance.  If the
first time Mary saw "Cc:" appear when she sent mail, she immediately said "Oh,
that must stand for 'carbon copies' and all I have to do is hit return becuase
I don't want any carbon copies," then I'm seriously impressed by Mary's
computer intuition.

response 18 of 95:

Oct 6 18:15 UTC 1995

  So will I.

response 20 of 95:

Oct 7 05:20 UTC 1995

        Cc does mean the same thing in normal letters. It should stay,
with the idea of "help" getting a preset response.
        I do like the idea of modifying it so that saved files
are instantly chmod 711'd

response 22 of 95:

Oct 9 17:46 UTC 1995

It's not like Cc: is a new concept.  It's been used on the bottom of
business letter for a long time, even before computers.  Cc = Carbon
copy.

response 24 of 95:

Oct 10 08:45 UTC 1995

Hey, we're stilling "dialing" telephones and using "steam" rollers, so
I guess it's going to be awhile. Maybe we should change it to "Vcc:"?