On 5 Dec 2002 at 4:58, Konstantinos Bibis wrote:
> If you follow a topic, you recognise it from the subject and choose to
> read it. You don't want to read the whole thread again, so why put the
> reply at the bottom ? If you think you're missing something you then
> move down the message and read the previous posts. No ?
Doesn't anyone read the stuff I post?....;))
You *indeed* do *not* want to read the entire thread again....that is
why you should *cut* down your quotes, and only include the most
relevant stuff, not by definition *all* (by definition not all, only
the last reply)....and the *only* way that happens, is if you are
forced to *see* the quote while replying/editing....and *that* only
happens if you put the quote on top....
Excessive quoting is the almost automatic result of reverse-quoting,
in 99.9% of all cases.
You *may* think it is less, but none of you sees what Majordomo
filters out already, by simply checking on the quoted admin-footer.
(together with MIME/HTML/RTF-format, that is the cause of messages
not making it to the list in 99.9% of all cases (excluding spam/non-
members of course))
Below once more my canned quote-tutorial:
Dear listmember,
Your message was filtered out by Majordomo because you quoted
unnecessary text, in particular the admin-footer (on the bottom of
every list message, with URL for list instructions).
Since Majordomo also uses this check to prevent mail-loops (mail
loops will cause multiple admin-footers, adding one every time the
message is distributed), you *must* edit your replies, and not quote
the entire message.
Also note that these admin-footers are nearly always present when
replying in the wrong order ('reply-first, quote last'), which on
itself is quite inconvenient for other list members....see
explanation I once posted to the Infrared list:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Willem-Jan Markerink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date sent: Wed, 5 May 1999 18:31:13 +0000
Subject: Admin stuff (was: bulk film holders, IR safe?
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear gang,
Lately I notice that several members are putting the quoted text
below the actual reply, which is not recommended.
At first this might sound like silly nit-picking, but it is actual
part of Netiquette, and for more than one (good) reason, all closely
related to each other:
1) a longer thread with multiple messages/replies is very hard to
read/edit in the reverse order of quote/reply
2) in the reverse order, you can't create a line-for-line (or
alinea-for-alinea) reply, you will have to quote all, followed by a
single alinea of reply....this is often neither efficient
(unnecessary quoting), nor to the point, making things harder to
read.
3) if you reply on top, there is a good chance you don't even notice
how long the section is you quoted, since you hardly see it. Proof
of that is often found in the inclusion of the admin-footer, which
will then appear twice....to me, and many others, this is considered
pretty sloppy behaviour.
4) while such sloppy quoting might not affect real-time readers much,
it is a pest for the digest....one has to skip long irrelevant
sections to get to the next message....again very inefficient.
Some of you might still not see all this as a real problem, since
the traffic on this list isn't very high, but please keep in mind
that many members read several other mailinglists & newsgroups as
well, and all these bits of unnecessary inefficiency add up to a
considerable amount of wasted time & energy, sometimes even
resulting in a message that gets no secondary reply at all (no
matter how relevant or necessary that reply would be....the more
editing needed to create a sensible reply, the lower the chance of
getting one).
So please stick to the most logical order, and keep quotes to a
minimum, for reading & distribution efficiency.
--
Bye,
Willem-Jan Markerink
The desire to understand
is sometimes far less intelligent than
the inability to understand
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lastly, for those of you wanting to reply in the right order, but
their mail-software preventing them from doing so (conveniently), see
a chapter on my homepage about how to changing these settings in
some mail-clients:
http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/quot_ord.txt
--
Bye,
Willem-Jan Markerink
The desire to understand
is sometimes far less intelligent than
the inability to understand
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]
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