Ed wrote: >mostly worthwhile - but some days, it is delete-delete-delete! Stick >around a while before you decide.
Greg wrote: >to others. I scan the subject line, and some of the info., and if it is no >use, or I don't want to be apart of it, I deleat it, and most of the other >items with that subject. If on the other hand, It is of intrest, I save it >for future referance, and I make a point to check all others with that same >subject, saveing the useful info, deleating things like the "Thank you" and >"Your welcome" post. Not picking on you, lots of people talk of deleting posts - but why? I know a few people still use low-capacity hard-disks, but for most disk capacity isn't a problem, with 10, 20, 40, 80 and more gigabyte disks standard now for some while, and fast machines that handle large amounts of data in no time. I regularly ask people please to crop irrelevant stuff (and multiple footers!) from their posts, but that's to save bandwidth, not disk space, and out of consideration for members with slow and/or expensive connections (often the case in 3rd World countries) and perhaps old gear. IMO it makes more sense to keep all posts. Deleting them is judging in advance what you may find useful later, and as an info-professional of long standing I can tell you that's not a judgment you can make with any assurance. A major advantage of subject-specific mailing lists like this one is that you quickly build up a considerable onboard information resource - your own database on biofuels. This list's database is a fabulous resource, I use it all the time, so do many others. (And it sure adds a little much-needed perspective to those few who complain that all we do here is discuss "off-topic political crap", LOL!) You don't build up much in the way of resources if you keep deleting stuff. With a computer it doesn't really matter what's there, it doesn't take perceptibly longer to search 20Mb than 10Mb, and the more that's in there the more depth and breadth it has, and the better your search results will be. Your email program should be able to do a full-text search of a mailbox. That is, you create a mailbox for the Biofuel list, call it "Biofuel", and set a filter to send all incoming messages with the header "To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com>" to that mailbox. If your emailer can't do that, and do a proper search, get one that can. After a month the mailbox gets a bit full, so make a new one for the next month and put last month's one in a folder on your hard disk, which you can search with a full-text search program. This mkakes the best use of the information you're receiving, and it will also improve your experience of mailing lists, and of Internet communications generally. And it's a lot easier than hitting the Delete button all the time. By the way, your emailer also should be able to sort messages by date (usually the default), by name of sender, and by subject, which makes everything much easier. If you don't have a capable emailer you're getting a keyhole view of what mailing lists are all about. Best Keith Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
