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I hope we stay as is. I DON'T want the list to become a
lets-post-a-picture list. The GET list, for example, has become a real
PITA with all the many attachments. Many messages are like this:
"I agree with you", and a 40,000 byte chart, or two, or three, of a
similar screen is attached. Sometimes there is NO text at all, just a
picture.
Lots of space for such little content. The signal to noise ratio has
decreased *severely* IMHO.
It is too bad a list has already been started on egroups. Perhaps a better
list name would have been 'omega-bloat@xxxxxxxxxxx' :-).
I capture and archive interesting material locally. I wrote the following
to another list a few years back, and it still sums up my view of the
bloat:
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I'm concerned about a new trend. Until recently, email was a wonderful
thing. One could ask a question, and often get a very helpful reply.
For example, "The part you need to restore your Widget is a left-handed
Dooflanny, part number 454-78845. I'd try ordering from National Parts R
Us - they have the best prices and service. Their number is 800-345-6789.
Good luck. Danny."
The message was compact, typically less than a few kilobytes, said what
was needed, and could be placed in a relatively small text data base.
Years later, when I needed another Dooflanny, the message could be
retrieved in seconds because all the info was there as simple, searchable
text.
In the near future, messages will be different. The text will spin and
shimmer in 16,000,000 different colors on my screen. This might be done
with a 45 kb Java program embedded in the message, controlling 138 kb of
Danny's favorite fonts attached to the message . There will, of course,
be hi-res pictures of a Widget and Dooflanny taking up another 285,000
bytes. The Dooflanny part number, what I *really* wanted to know, *won't*
be in the message - only the Web link reference is given (which, of
course, will not be there any more when I look a year later - another '404
not found' casualty :-). The words 'Widget' and 'Dooflanny' (the words
needed for the search) appear *only* in the audio track of the video part
of the message. The 800 number is actually an animated graphic, not text,
as part of the visually entertaining National Parts R Us logo, which adds
another 375,000 bytes to the message. The message will end with the 2.5
Megabyte HDTV video clip of Danny finally saying "Good luck." This time,
we'll need it :-).
I exaggerate, of course, but how *will* I find this message in my 6
Terabyte data base of future email? Given the search problem and the
enormous message bloat, will it even be worthwhile to save it?
Kinda makes one long for "the good old days" :-).
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