[Namron] Excessive replies

Lissa Guillet lissa at missliss.org
Mon Apr 26 09:53:41 PDT 2004


OK. I've been a programmer for quite awhile, and I think it's kind of sad
to say that a programmers methods of communication are the correct way...
It may be a logical way, but in my experience, most programmers are poor
communicators with normal people. =)

There are a lot problems with internet communication. The lack of
disarming smiles and the ability to buy your buddy a beer when there is a
disagreement are just two of them.

>From my usenet days, I remember quite a bit of etiquette that used to go
around. Top posts became a point of contention though I think the usenet
elite, whatever that is, made a decision on that. Still, that doesn't mean
people can understand that decision. It is logical to put a reply below
what you are replying to for the purposes of context, however sometimes
the only purpose of putting the replied-to text there in the first place
is as a reference for clarity and less as a necessity for contentious
debate.

Now, I've made choices that make sense to me in that regard. If the only
purpose for a reply is reference, ie so someone can see the current thread
of conversation, I leave it off entirely. I do that because it's
incredibly annoying to others to have to spend minutes downloading a
single email where I would say, "I totally agree with what was said
below." It seems a bit silly. If I'm doing a point reference, I quote the
reference above where I am replying to it for the sake of clarity. If
there needs to be context I will add the lines that the context requires.
And if it needs a LOT of context I will include it. It's just how I do
things and those are my choices to be courteous to others in various ways
without causing me more pain than I'm willing to deal with. I like to
cross my i's and dot my t's. =)

To me top posts, are analogous with just leaving text off completely. Very
few people read it in reality and those that wish to can easily sort
through their email or check the website.

If your email is capable try threaded responses. It allows you to monitor
threads of conversation at a time in reply-to's using the Reference and
Message-ID headers. Every once and awhile and older program does not
understand those and it could throw the thread off slightly but more often
than not it isn't a necessity. Also, the website I would bet could list
them in a threaded or at least nested view to allow easy reference if it
was absolutely required.

Remember the 56k modem is slow and doesn't allow you to do much else when
you are downloading email and some people are still on the 56k modem. So
keeping replies short when you would probably be nice just for courtesies
sake.

Find your own way of communicating, specifics aren't terribly important.
There are ways that some people have found superior for various reasons,
but likely those reasons don't cover everything and does it make sense to
you? Personal style is a thing each person needs to decide on. I can see
the reasons easily for wanting to keep things short when possible. It's a
practicallity issue, but seriously, is style THAT important? =)

Also, it's a good idea I think to point out that the mailing list is
public and this a face that you show to others. New members like me might
get the wrong idea. ;)

Maybe it's just me. ^_^
-- 
Lissa




More information about the Namron mailing list