TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (03/26/89)
Another reminder on how to keep the volume down (someone has to do this once every six months or so) -- there is no point whatsoever to repeating the text of most messages you are responding to -- the whole point of electronic mail is that you can keep up a dialogue while the issues are moderately fresh in your mind. If this were a moderated newsgroup I'd argue that the moderator should throw away any messages that have less than, say, 90% new content. (Maybe Brint could stick in a simple program that counted the number of lines prefixed with one or more < signs and chuck out all traffic with too many; anyone caught trying to defeat the algorithm by using some other kind of prefix would be put on a blacklist and ALL trafffic from him or her would be rejected.) (-:
SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (03/26/89)
>Another reminder on how to keep the volume down (someone has to do this >once every six months or so) -- there is no point whatsoever to >repeating the text of most messages you are responding to -- the whole Gee, I frequently get mail that says stuff like "OK, I will, and I'll let you know" without having the slightest idea what the response is too (I confess I can't recall with certainty what I may have typed into the ether three days ago). Unlike mail back and forth between two people or even a friendly neighborhood BBS, messages on comp.sys.apple=info-apple=INFO-APP don't arrive in order (or even promptly, tonight I got delivery of 20 or so messages from last Saturday and Sunday that some LISTSERV had rolled off to tape or something). We COMMONLY see answers before we see the questions (short replies to long questions are particularly prone to arriving first). So, while I too have complained about repeating ENTIRE messages when only a few lines would be quite sufficient, some repetition is worthwhile, even necessary. Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn ) (03/27/89)
In article <890326041532.429790@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL writes: >... there is no point whatsoever to repeating the text of most messages ... True, but usually it helps to repeat just enough so that people know what your reponse is referring to. >(Maybe Brint could stick in a simple program that counted the number of >lines prefixed with one or more < signs and chuck out all traffic with >too many; ... No! Such simplistic rules get in the way more than they help. I'm fairly careful to include whatever context seems appropriate, and I find that it varies radically from 0 quoted lines to a large quoted block with only a line or two of response. It can't be automated.