The Right Way to Reply

Hi all,

The SHADO list started out as an unmoderated group, meaning that anyone
could post anything they wanted without worrying about a moderator
reviewing (and possibly deleting) the message.

As the Internet grew larger, junk mail (spam) became a problem here, so I
changed the list so that all new members are moderated, and then once I
could see that they were UFO fans, I could make them unmoderated.

However, in recent years, a growing number of people on this list have a
bad habit which keeps them moderated indefinitely. That habit? When
they reply to a post on this list, they simply hit the reply button, type
in a few words, and then hit the send button.

What's wrong with that? Well, in most cases, the reply you just sent
contains the complete contents of the message you're replying to. And if
you're in Digest mode, it contains the complete digest along with your
reply.

The right way to do this is to cut out most of the original message --
just leave in a few lines from the past messages, so we know specifically
what you're replying to.

As it stands now, MOST of the people posting on SHADO are now moderated.
And MOST of these people don't edit the original messages they are
replying to. So they pile up in the queue for me to review, and then I
edit out the original messages myself, so that the rest of the list
members don't get bombarded by emails full of repititious old posts.

The only problem with this is that it makes me cranky... and also uses up
enough time each day that I could probably have used to do something
useful -- like add scans of UFO photos to my website, or a script, or
SOMETHING of interest. I don't think people realize that as large as my
UFO site is now, I could take it all down, and replace it with a site
equally as large, but with entirely new content. I have *that much*
stuff lying around in my den that I could add to the website.

But I'm never going to get around to it if I have to spend all my time
editing everyone's posts here.

So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE -- edit your replies... you may even like
becoming one of the few unmoderated list members on SHADO.... sort of an
exclusive club, at this point... :-)

Marc

<snip> That habit? When they reply to a post on this list, they simply hit
the reply button, type
in a few words, and then hit the send button. <snip>

Griff apologetically but resolutely hangs his head in shame... sorry guilty
as charged m'lud

Hear, hear
I'm digest on several lists, and it's really annoying when people who
are also on digest forget to snip the irrelevant bits: since they
reply to the digest, I get the entire digest inserted in the reply.
And if a conversation gets going, I can get the same digest inserted
in several consecutives post as people reply to each other.

My Pet Peeve of the day.
Sorry for the whine,
Thanks,
CG

--- In [hidden email], "Marc Martin" <marc@u...> wrote:
> Hi all,

---- <snip>