o Point number one, re: list etiquette in general:
One thing I have learned from being on the Net since
the dawn of email's popularity is that list etiquette
discussions recur on every list I have ever been in,
even the good ones. They take up bandwidth, and do
absolutely no good.
No matter how much a person soapboxes about his
personal hot points, citing everything from RFCs and
the Hacker's Dictionary to the Bible to make their
points, while some few may learn a thing or two and
revise a habit now and then, in the end most do not.
Shortly after the thread dies down, the list is
joined by more of the unenlightened who will quote
entire digests and bottom-post "me too", send HTML
and attachments (unless it's outright banned and
enforced), send paragraph-length single lines,
include foreign character codes, ignore punctuation,
misspell three-letter words, and compose text as
though human speech is their second language, until
someone gets sufficiently irritated to start the
cycle once again.
I finally learned about five years ago not to read
messages that I don't like to *look* at. Period. That
alone cut my load about 90%, especially where I used
to work.
Meanwhile, I strive to present the best example I can
in my own posts, because I'd rather have people
imitate what I do than what I say. Sometimes people
even write me offlist and ask me how I do
such-and-such. (Particularly proper citation.)
o Point number two, re: top-posts versus bottom-posts
I had to reflect to even know what that means, but
finally figured out it refers to the practice of
quoting a whole message and adding your own content
at the top or bottom respectively. If I
misunderstand, someone please correct me.
When responding to a message I always, always,
*always* quote the message, indent it with citation
strings, and then intersperse my own comments. And I
always, always, *always* delete the words that are
irrelevant, both before and afterward, often
inserting ellipses before and/or afterward. This way
I can break a line precisely at the most effective
word, so there is no guesswork as to what points on
which I am commenting.
One simple reason so few do this is that they either
use inferior editing systems, are keyboard
challenged, or simply have never taken the time to
learn how to use the power built into the tools they
have available. I've observed this is most often true
of people who come to Linux/Unix from a Windows point
and drool environment where they are provided by
default with software that allows them to insert
attachments of the latest Steven Spielberg movie in
DVD format, but don't provide them with some of the
most fundamental editing capabilities, such as the
ability to transpose letters, sentences, or words in
a keystroke, or to re-fill paragraphs after deleting
or adding text.
Some things will never change. The best we can do is
just get over it, and try not to be part of the
problem.
Respectfully,
--
Lynn David Newton
Phoenix, AZ
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