digest #904 - a request for action

[Guest guest]

I have pointed this problem out a lot of times. People read and listen. They

just don't really " hear " . Thanks for writing it out again.

 

Yes, It is best to have user friendly format. But second best is unfriendly

format, because the most important thing is to have the information if you need

it.

 

I would like to add that anyone in this group, should not be on digest form. A

lot of the messages are long so that all of the information will be archived in

the group. In that way if the original page disappears, the info is still here

and in one place for easy job of locating it.

 

Frank

 

RPutman wrote:

" Alobar " <alobar wrote message #9 in the digest. That message was

89 pages long! And the information was presented in a very user-unfriendly,

essentially useless format.

 

Then " LF " <lorenzo1 writes a TWO line message reply and quotes

Alobar's COMPLETE message, thus making his post 90 pages long.

 

The total digest was 222 pages long! [my word processor tells me]

 

I own/manage a forum with 650 members. What I do in a situation like that is to

put both members on moderated status -- where all their posts have to be

approved. I have a standard file message I send to someone like LF:

 

Mela-Pals has a few policies which all have one thing in

common: Be considerate of other Mela-Pals. When you

joined Mela-Pals you were sent the Mela-Pals

introduction file which briefly describes each Mela-Pals

policy. Here's what that file says about quoting:

 

QUOTING

When you're replying to a message do NOT routinely copy

the entire original message into your message. If your software

does this automatically, and you can't figure out how to turn off

that option, then use your DELETE key to get rid of everything

except those original message phrases or sentences that help

show what you're replying to. Quote selectively - just enough to

let the reader know what you're referring to. This is a _very_

important rule in e-mail etiquette.

 

Why it's a good idea to quote SELECTIVELY:

Here's some background on why it's a good idea to quote selectively

rather than reposting entire messages. It's considerate of other people's

time and Internet resources to only quote relevant parts of an e-mail

message you're responding to.

If a person writes 3 new lines and quotes a 110 line original message

that may mean that up to several hundred people have to waste time

skipping, skipping down to try to find the next " new " stuff. If two quoted lines

were

enough to tell what the person is responding to, then with regard to what was

quoted:

* The computer server is having to store fifty times

more information than is necessary.

* For every 100 people who are rs to the list,

the Internet is having to transmit five thousand times

more information than is necessary.

* Other people on the list are having to wade through

fifty times more old information than they should have to.

 

When a long post is repeated and repeated in replies, the download times

for

people with modems that are 28.8 or 56 K are unjustifiably increased. Often

those

with high speed Internet connections do not realize this. In addition, it

requires

much more storage capacity for people who want to keep the posts for future

reference. Web-based email addresses offer limited storage. Hotmail has only 2

megabytes; has 6 megabytes, etc.

 

If you'd like to review the Mela-Pals introduction file, you can go to

Mela-pals

and click on the Welcome Message file.

 

There is nothing wrong with the message you wrote, except

for the fact that you did not use selective quoting.

Please resubmit your message, using selective quoting.

 

Rich Putman, forum manager