META: Guide to the PostgreSQL mailing lists

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 pgsql-docs(at)postgresql(dot)org and send your suggestions.

Version: 0.2
Changed: 2002-11-11