[pct-l] Lazy Responders

[Gary Wright]

On Jan 30, 2010, at 11:09 AM, Jon & Beth Salzwedel wrote:
> Would persons posting to this list PLEASE take the time to compose a new message and not just hit "reply".  Recently there have been way too many posts that are many pages long with only a few sentences of new material.  YOU know who you are!
>> 

I agree with your sentiment, but not your specifics.

a) Do not compose a new message to reply to an existing one.
b) Do not use reply and change the subject line to start a new discussion.
c) Do edit to remove extraneous text on all messages.
d) If you get pct-l in digest form. Read c again. Once more. Thanks.

Most mail programs keep track of the thread of discussion and
can organize messages accordingly. When you use 'reply' or 'reply all'
to respond to a message, the reply contains a reference to the old
message. These references are used to group and organize messages
into threads in most mail readers. If you compose a 'new message'
but are really replying to an existing message then you've messed
up that organization (there are now two threads instead of one).

Similarly if you hit reply and change the subject instead of
composing a new message you've also messed up that organization
(there is just one thread instead of two). This actually has
a technical name 'thread hijacking'.  Don't do it.


Gary Wright (Radar)