Michelle> Agreed, with the exception I raised earlier this week related Michelle> to 'always trimming unneeded quoted text form your responses' Michelle> because 'unneeded' is too subjective. Particularly in the case Michelle> where feedback is explicitly requested on a new discussion and that Michelle> feedback gets trimmed not because it is unneeded, but because it is Michelle> unpopular or controversial. I propose we strike that bullet in the Michelle> 'general list karma' section and keep the rest.
Simon> I disagree. Trimming redundant text is well-recognised best practice Simon> and failure to do so leads to cumbersome, unreadable messages. You're both right, depending on the context. Michelle is right that one should not selectively trim messages to alter the apparent context, and Simon is right that in general trimming leads to easier-to-read messages. In particular, I am trimming this reply to cite only the relevant portions, and in doing so I believe the appropriate context is maintained. I think this issue is best left up to each individual's judgement, though as one with a pet peeve about people who reply to a 300 line message with a 2 line follow-up and cite the whole thing, I tend to err on the side of trimming. -- John http://blogs.sun.com/jbeck
