ANST - Administra

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

Please, please, please let me emphasize
Pug's points, in particular
    2) Delete anything in the message that is not needed.
    3) Include more *new* information than you are responding to.
I would add
    4) Consider whether everyone on the list wants to
       see your message.  If not, send it as private e-mail.
(tho that's more like a subpoint of #2).

I've spent hours today wading thru the dreck posted over the
weekend on the Ansteorran list.  I've seriously considered
unsubscribing today.

I don't care about how you want to buy someone's trailer.
E-mail between yourselves.  If you want to thank someone or
say "that's funny!", it should be private e-mail, unless
they've done something massive and wonderful for all.

Jokes can be fun -- *if* they're funny for the group as a
whole, *if* they're not reposts of 40-line messages with one
line like "he he he" added, and *if* they don't take over
the mailing list.  Look at how Aquilanne did it, for a
reasonable example:

> 'wolf said:
> >> << Soilent Green is People!
>
> Johann attemted a spelling correction with:
> >> Er.....that's "Solyent Green".
>
> and HE Caterina sets them both straight with:
> >Umm....actually that's "Soylent Green"
>
> and to the lot of you I say, the acronym for "Soylent Green is People"
> spells "SGIP", not "SPAM."
>
> So. There.

Look at that -- *she used her editor to trim three posts to
the bare minimum needed*.  No wading thru screens of junk.
*You have an editor in your mailer too*, I'll bet.  If not,
I'll bet you can use cut-and-paste.

For me, it's *not* just a matter of hitting the delete key
for 10-15 minutes a day.  I'm not kidding or exaggerating
above about "hours".

In any event, it's like saying that unsolicited commercial
e-mail is no problem because all you have to do is hit the
delete key.  It's like saying that littering isn't a problem
because it only takes a moment to pick up that can.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel.   Reply to tmcd at crl.com;
    if that fail, tmcd at austin.ibm.com is my work account.
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