NYCkayaker Knotty threads

[Geoff K.]

Michael,

> On the other hand, not including the reply chain -- or over editing of 
> replies -- can often leave the reader at a loss as to the meaning and 
> context of the current reply. 

I agree with your thought about over-editing. Posting to a listserve 
thread -- as with any form of communication -- can be a challenge, but 
ultimately the idea is to get one's point across effectively. Wading 
through extraneous bits of past postings irrelevent to one's point can 
both distract and detract from that point.

Also, many of the recent threads have taken turns down rabbit holes that 
may be interesting, but diverge from the original topic altogether. In 
this case, it makes sense not only to edit the thread but to also change 
the subject line, as well. [another topic I could take up in more 
detail, but in some other forum, I suppose]

> As long as the reply appears at the top, it's easy enough to skip the 
> rest. 

Even though a response appears to the top of a reply, in digest mode, 
many messages get collected into 1 digest posting, and the top of 1 
message appears directly below the bottom of another, forcing the digest 
subscriber to hunt for the wheat among the chaff.

Enough of this thread. I just wanted to raise some awareness. The 
paucity of email etiquette finally got to me, that's all. I enjoy a 
geeky language discussion from time to time, and it's also fun to see 
what Jeremy will tolerate in terms of threads straying from 
paddling-centric chatter.

-- Geoff

> From: geoffk99 at gmail.com
> To: nyckayaker at rockandwater.net
> Sent: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:59 PM
> Subject: NYCkayaker Knotty threads
>
>All,
>
>I have an administrative pet peeve to raise regarding replies here on 
>the list: Could it be possible for folks to do a little editing of 
>replies, so that the entire thread doesn't always appear in the reply? 
>In recent days there have been replies with 7-deep, 8-deep & 9-deep 
>nested reply chains included, making what could be a 10K message more 
>than 4 times that size. This also make for an arduous hunt for the 
>actual meat of the reply when reading posts in digest form in particular.
>
>If there is something in a reply worth quoting, by all means include it. 
>Otherwise, just chop off the remainder of the thread & write the reply. 
>Does anyone agree?
>
>Thanks!
>
>-- Geoff
>[Interested in seeing how any replies are posted! ;-)]
>