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I've been asked to comment, once again, about some posters' habit of
quoting entire prior articles when they're replying to the list. I
know it's easy, and we're all in a hurry. But simple self interest
would seem to make you want to put your best face forward in a public
forum like this list. When you post here, your article is sent to
over one thousand people. If you can't take the time to compose your
note intelligently, including the act of selecting only the relevant
prior lines your note refers to, why should the list's readers take
your thoughts seriously? When you gain a reputation as a thoughtless
poster on a high-traffic list like this, busy readers will simply
filter your name and not bother reading you at all.
The situation is most serious for digest readers, who subscribe to
the digest form of the list to avoid the flood of messages the non-digest
generates. When most of the digest is taken up with quotations of
quotations of prior articles, it defeats the purpose of that digest.
I could install a filter in the digest to simply discard all quoted
material from posts, if the ratio of quoted to new material in that
post is greater than, say, ten to one. But really, I shouldn't have
to take my time to do that; people should care enough about what they
write to not make it necessary.
--
jimo@xxxxxxxxxx
maintainer of the omega list
omega-list-request@xxxxxxxxxx
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