A Minor Tirade

A "Minor Tirade", some hints and suggestions for those who find
themselves on mail lists and posting to news groups from one who has
done this for many years. (Note - this doesn't apply to spam lists)

To any who don't want to be on this list (and applicable to many/most
legitimate mail lists) there is an address at the bottom of each mailing
that lists the unsubscribe method

There is also a moderator: MMM-moderator@xxxx
...who should be able to do pretty much anything if the automatic stuff
doesn't work. This information came from the initial posting to the list
(which I _always_ keep). In this case though, the moderator has chosen
to keep their real identity obscured - preferring only the initials FWP
in the initial posting. I haven't found the need to peer behind the
curtain to see who this is, but am of the opinion that whoever it is
should be far more forthcoming in who they are if this list is to become
and/or remain relevant and legitimate (and on my reading list). Today's
Internet is all about personal reputation, far more than it is about
anonymous opinion.

I didn't set up this list, but host many others and moderate a few.

As an added note to those who are posting - many lists in the past would
reject a posting if the amount of "quoted" material from previous
postings was greater than the amount of new text. Some of them still do
this.

Good manners/netiquette (especially to people like Mr. XXX who probably gets several hundred messages per day, as I and many others on this list also do) is to keep the postings short, to the point, and with minimum quoting from past postings, since all of those on the list already have the previous postings and many of today's mail readers will "thread" a subject showing messages in order.

An added ability with today's mail readers is to put a URL to referenced
text's full source, allowing you to abstract a small part instead of
pasting the whole thing in.

I have thought about quitting the list too - but there are sometimes
pearls in here that catch my eye - the point is that I have to wade
through far too much in order to find them.

Put your main comment at the top - and if necessary, intersperse pointed comments with quoted pieces from previous postings so we know what you are talking about - but don't go overboard with the quotes.

I've been on mailing lists and news forums for almost 20 years - and the
degradation of manners or ignorance of conventions in them has driven me nuts. Please don't anyone take this minor tirade too personally, since
it is not aimed solely at this list - I'm going to cut it out and post
it on my www.pacdat.net web site in my opinion column for next month and may post it to many other lists I'm on.

ps - I also hate HTML postings, but I'm of the old school. If you must
use them, keep to basic text and maybe a heading or two and leave out
the color and clutter. The ideas in the text are what you have to offer,
the formatting just gets in the way.

Replies directly to me - don't clutter up the list with off-topic
postings.

richard