In continuation to Nikhilesh's mail on bottom-posting. Here are Five points for effective email conversations.
0. Plain TEXT format 1. Actionable SUBJECT line 2. One TOPIC per email 3. BOTTOM-posting on reply 4. IMG at URL, Error log in plain TEXT Rationale 0. With plain TEXT format, URL such as the following http://www.idallen.com/topposting.html and CODE structure is preserved. 1. Actionable SUBJECT line is attunes and enables the reader of your email to know what you seek. Shell script does not process input vs Need help. The world is drowning in "need help" and most likely your mail will generate late replies. 2. One TOPIC per email may generate multiple emails. However, a reader may be able to respond better since (s)he may reply first with a topic (s)he is conversant with. With multiple topics and long-winding email, the reader needs to read, re-read what actually the issue is or specific help sought for. There is a place for long emails, for example, closely related feature set discussion. 3. BOTTOM-posting with trimming on reply builds a very clear picture of conversation and interaction of the participants. Multiple independent nodes from the main topic indicates engagement. Within each node, the length of each thread indicates the depth of conversation. Both are healthy signs. 4. IMG at URL, Error log in plain TEXT Kernel panic or system freeze up require taking a photograph with your mobile phone and posting it to a image hosting site. In your text email, the URL to that photo is included. People influenced by "rich text" organizations get into the habit of taking selective screenshots (smaller in size but are still images) and posting it in "rich text" email or messaging system. Again, since you use text email, please include the URL to that screenshot, which you can host on some photo hosting site. Doing this has three benefits, a. you become "more" aware of the system output and try to increasingly "capture" the text output. b. the size of your email reduces dramatically to =< 4 KB. c. the person who intends to help you can select specific text fragments from the log via grep or internet search. Illustration browser plugin configuration can be posted in text without needing any screenshot eg. ---- Shockwave Flash File: libflashplayer.so Path: /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so Version: 32.0.0.330 State: Enabled (STATE_VULNERABLE_UPDATE_AVAILABLE) Shockwave Flash 32.0 r0 MIME Type Description Suffixes application/x-shockwave-flash Shockwave Flash swf application/x-futuresplash FutureSplash Player spl OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. File: 1.8.1.1 Path: /opt/profile/firefox/gmp-gmpopenh264/1.8.1.1 Version: 1.8.1.1 State: Enabled This plugin is automatically installed by Mozilla to comply with the WebRTC specification and to enable WebRTC calls with devices that require the H.264 video codec. Visit https://www.openh264.org/ to view the codec source code and learn more about the implementation. ---- Hope members of Strikr Free Software Community will gain productivity by adopting the five points. Bonus Writing is a form of expression. It is positive and pleasant to express yourself well. Please reflect, review and reconfigure email posting behaviour. warm regards Saifi.
