Subject: META: Guide to the PostgreSQL mailing lists

From: Richard Huxton <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 14:09:53 +0000

I suggested a "guide to the lists" email the other day on pgsql-general. 
Here's my first draft - is this going to be of any use?

- Richard Huxton

---Begin message---
This message is a guide to using the PostgreSQL mailing lists, available via 
email and newsgroups. It describes the lists, how to subscribe and 
unsubscribe and how best to post a message.

The Lists
=========
There are over a dozen different lists, and choosing the right one will help 
to get a quick response. The "novices","sql" and "general" lists are a good 
place to start. A full list is available at:

http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/index.html

Subscribing / Unsubscribing
===========================
If you are familiar with the majordomo mailing list manager, all the standard 
commands work over email. The easiest method though might be to use the 
web-form at:

http://developer.postgresql.org/mailsub.php

You can use this form to subscribe and unsubscribe, and also choose whether to 
receive mail as a digest (a whole day's messages merged together). You can 
also choose not to receive any mail (see the Newsgroups section below for why 
you'd want to do that).

If you want to change your settings after subscribing you can do so at the URL 
below. You'll need to know your email address and the password you were 
provided with when you subscribed (you *did* keep that didn't you?). Just 
click on the "Sign In" link then "Unsubscribe or Change Settings".

http://webmail.postgresql.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr

Newsgroups
==========
If you would rather use a newsgroup feed for PostgreSQL rather than email, it 
still makes sense to subscribe. Use the form above but select "No" for 
"Receive mail?". This means you won't be sent any mail, but can still use 
your email address to send messages. If you don't subscribe your messages 
will have to be inspected by a (very overworked) volunteer, in which case 
please be patient.

Before you Post
===============
Firstly, please make sure you have checked the documentation - the manuals, 
the FAQ and techdocs can help with 99% of the problems you might encounter. 
Secondly, check the mailing list archives and see if someone else has had the 
same problem.  All these resources are linked to from:

http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/index.html

Finally, if English is not your first language, there are some translated 
documents linked to from that page (please feel free to volunteer if your 
language is not there). The mailing-lists tend to use English, but are a 
worldwide effort, so don't worry if you aren't fluent.

Posting a question
==================
First, choose a meaningful subject: "DB problems" is too vague, "Unable to 
connect from Access" is much better and will attract the attention of people 
who can help.

Second, include all the relevant information people will need to help you. If 
you are having problems installing, provide the operating system (e.g. RedHat 
7.3) and method (installing from source) along with the version of PostgreSQL 
(7.2) and where the problem occurred (I ran ./configure and it gave the 
following output).

If you are having problems with a query provide an example including the table 
definitions and SQL you are trying to run. If you want to improve performance 
also provide the number of rows in each table and the output of EXPLAIN for 
your query.

Finally
=======
If your message doesn't get an answer, wait a couple of days and re-post. Make 
sure you provided all the information required and mention that it's your 
second attempt. Don't be offended - sometimes with all the traffic on the 
lists a message can be overlooked.

If you've found the lists useful, please try and help out someone else. This 
is a community effort and there's always someone out there who knows less 
than you. Also, a "thank you" is always welcome - the people answering 
questions are volunteers just like you.

If you find any errors in this message or think it needs changes, please 
subscribe to [email-masked] and send your suggestions.

Version: 0.2
Changed: 2002-11-11

---

From: Justin Clift <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 01:20:35 +1100

Hi Richard,

Would you mind if this was put in the new collaborative infrastructure,
so that people can add comments and make suggestions directly?

:-)

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift

Richard Huxton wrote:
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
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-- 
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."
   - Indira Gandhi

---

From: Richard Huxton <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 14:38:36 +0000

> so that people can add comments and make suggestions directly?

I think "DOH!" is the only sensible response, seeing as how I was playing with 
it earlier.

Posting it up now.

- Richard Huxton