* Add .tedit files for Lafite manual and release notes -- PDFs on Google Drive * use 'docs' for subfolder name; wliminate dup * Remove duplicate LAFITEMANUAL-GLOSSARY-CUSTOMER.TEDIT --------- Co-authored-by: Nick Briggs <nicholas.h.briggs@gmail.com>
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A USER'S GUIDE TO LAFITE
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A USER'S GUIDE TO LAFITE
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USING LAFITE COURTEOUSLY
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USING LAFITE COURTEOUSLY
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Appendix A: Using Lafite
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Courteously
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The great art of living easy and happy in society is to study proper behaviour, and even with our most intimate friends to observe politeness; otherwise we will insensibly treat each other with a degree of rudeness, and each will find himself despised in some measure by the other.
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Boswell, London Journal (1762)
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Foreward
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This appendix is an edited version of ``Message System Mores,'' chapter 6 of the Xerox Laurel Manual, by Douglas K. Brotz, and the essay ©©Message System Mores¹¹ that Brotz published in ACM Transactions in Office Information Systems, Vol 1, No. 2. The material that appeared only in the ACM journal is copyright 1983 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
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Douglas Brotz was a member of the team at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) that designed Laurel, which is an electronic message system similar to Lafite that was written for the Xerox Alto. Through his involvement with Laurel, Brotz discovered patterns of electronic message system behavior that may apply to Lafite users. He also developed some rules for appropriate message system behavior, i.e., message system etiquette. Because many Laurel and Lafite users have found this essay helpful, we have edited it for inclusion here, making the references appropriate for Lafite and deleting information that appears elsewhere in the Lafite manual.
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Introduction
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This is an essay on manners, in particular, message system manners. Electronic message systems provide a new mode of communication that, while offering convenience, speed, and reliable delivery, also opens channels that may be abused. At the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, we have designed and implemented an electronic message system that has quickly spread throughout the Xerox Corporation. Through its use, we have discovered many patterns of message system user behavior that appear to apply to electronic message systems in general rather than to the particular system that we built. The focus of this essay is not on the features of our system, but on observations of user behavior in the electronic mail environment in an effort to spread understanding of this new medium and to instruct users in proper behavior.
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The contents of this essay may be divided into roughly two kinds, objective observations of message system social phenomena and definitely biased suggestions of standards. The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author. These opinions are not based on scientific studies or samples, but rather on certain intuitive feelings that have evolved through a close association with our system since its inception.
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Communication Patterns
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Part of the evolution of a society is the structure within which its members communicate. Face-to-face communication, both spoken and through gestures, has been with us for a very long time. Written communication and telephone communication have been employed for a substantially lesser amount of time. Nevertheless, these modes of communication have been around long enough to have developed certain standards of conduct and a framework in which reasonable communication can take place.
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The electronic message medium has existed for a much shorter period of time, perhaps 20 or so years. (I am purposely ignoring telegraphic communication, which has very different characteristics due to its long delays and high cost.) Electronic message systems on personal computers have been available for even less time, probably less than 10 years. In this time, standards of electronic communication have not yet had time to mature, so we are still groping toward a workable electronic-messaging society.
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In any of the mature communication media, each society places limits on what is considered acceptable behavior. Vulgar language or gestures are generally frowned upon in face-to-face communication, except in smaller sub-societies in which this mode of behavior is necessary for group membership. Shouting at close range is similarly considered to be in bad taste. Methods of dealing with such behavior in face-to-face communication run from mild rejection of the speaker to complete avoidance of that speaker in the future. As the number of human societies is large, and each has had much experience with this means of communication, the means employed for dealing with such situations are quite varied. Within each group, however, the methods used can be quite effective in stifling unwanted behaviors.
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I will list several kinds of situations that arise in the electronic message medium and means for dealing with them. Where possible, I will draw parallels to other more traditional modes of communication to illustrate acceptable manners. In addition, I will try to point out the ways in which communicating via electronic mail is different from the traditional communication media, and how this modifies the problems to be dealt with.
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The Wrong Number
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We all have dialed wrong numbers and received calls from people who have dialed wrong numbers. The protocol for handling such situations is simple, and arises naturally as a result of the way in which standard phone calls are initiated. A typical wrong number dialog may be as follows:
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Callee: Hello.
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Caller: Hello. May I speak to John?
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Callee: There is no one at this number by that name. I believe you have the wrong number.
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Caller: Oh. Isn't this 555-1234?
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Callee: No, it isn't. (And sometimes . . . ) This is 555-4321!
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Caller: Thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you.
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In postal communication, receiving misaddressed mail or mail for a former resident who has moved is akin to the telephone's wrong number. The post office's suggested remedy is for the recipient to line out the address and remail the letter. The post office will then attempt to forward the letter to the correct address, deliver it to the proper address, or return the letter to the sender.
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Note that in both of these situations, it was not necessary to begin the actual conversation or open the letter. Enough information is exchanged at the outset to determine if the parties in the communication are the correct ones. This is usually not true when comunicating via electronic mail.
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In electronic message systems, it is seldom the case that a message sent to a particular name is actually delivered to a recipient with a different name. A different situation is (unfortunately) common when a recipient has a popular name. The problem is that several people may have the same last name, and some electronic message systems do not have convenient facilities for mapping a person's actual name into that person's message system name. Thus, a person named Doe may receive mail for ADoe, BDoe, etc. Here, the original error is committed by the sender, who did not consider that ADoe's message system name was actually ADoe, but just assumed that it was Doe.
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The parallel to this situation in the telephone medium is actually a bit more elaborate than the dialog given above. It is more like:
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Callee: Hello.
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Caller: Hello. Is Johnny there?
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Callee: Hold on, I'll get him.
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John: Hello?
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Caller: Hey Johnny, let's boogie on down to the hoedown.
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John: Who is this?
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Caller: Come on buddih, this is good old Bodine!
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John: I don't know any Bodine.
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Caller: Oh. Ain't this 555-1234?
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and so on. Notice that in this case a partial name match has occurred, and it is only later in the conversation that one of the parties discovers that something is awry. In the electronic mail case, it is nearly always the case that the message must be at least partially read to determine that it has reached an incorrect recipient.
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This situation can be (and has been) handled in several inappropriate ways. First (and worst), the incorrect recipient can just ignore the message. No one gains through such inaction. Second, the incorrect recipient may send a response to the sender of the form ``Stop sending me this trash!'' This is a bit more helpful, but not quite the best that can be done. Third, the incorrect recipient may send the correct recipient a message of the form ``Tell your senders what your name is!'' This is not even as good as the previous response, as a message system user cannot know all possible senders.
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Proper consideration by all involved can alleviate the ``wrong number'' syndrome considerably. Senders of messages should know their recipients. When sending a message, if you are not sure of a person's message system name, look it up. At Xerox PARC, the phone list has everyone's message system name correctly listed. Perhaps other organizations should do the same, and eventually a message-system-wide ``white pages'' may be published. Such lists help, but not if the senders don't use them.
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A message addressed to an individual tends to be more important than a message addressed to a distribution list, in that a reply from an individual is expected more than replies from anonymous members of distribution lists. The names contained in distribution lists are usually correct, so there is generally no misdelivery problem. However, senders type the names of individual addressees for important messages directly. Thus, when there is a misaddressed message, it is generally an important one.
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When you realize that a message is not for you, use the Forward command to send it back to the sender along with your polite comment that the message has reached a ``wrong number.'' Forwarding the message back is important, as the sender may not have a copy of that message any more. Once you have determined that you have received a ``wrong number'' message, stop reading it. A message sent through the message system may have personal material, and it is none of your business to peruse the entire message. (Many users who typically dispose of their received mail at a rapid clip take great delight in reading every last character of a misaddressed messageÿÿ |