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Re: List and Usenet management



on Thu, Apr 11, 2002, Paul 'Baloo' Johnson (baloo@ursine.dyndns.org) wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, Karsten M. Self wrote:
> 
> >     I'm subscribed to another list which is very high volume, and
> >     focusses largely on entertainment industry issues.  Reader
> >     habits are highly different:  bottom quoting, a wide mix of
> >     mailers, much HTML mail, varying quote markers, little if any
> >     response trimming....  I find the mess barely readable (and
> >     haven't looked at it yet this week).   If d-u ever descends to
> >     this level, I'm out.
> 
> Two newsgroups I'm on that are high traffic have a problem with a lot
> of bottom quoting and very little trimming if any (or another cute
> trick I see a lot is "So and so wrote at blah blah blah: / <snip>"
> Why thank you for such helpful quoting.  alt.fan.furry has this
> problem more than alt.lifestyle.furry.
> 
> Polite attempts to promote good posting habits is usually met with
> hostility (again, on aff more than alf).  Any tips for promoting a
> clue to a group that actively repels it?

I hear there's a group in Ramallah that's been working on that for a
while....

Seriously:  it's a long, uphill, trudge.  I use a mix of goads,
examples, compelling content (IMVAO), and rather marked ignoring of
those who fail to mend their ways.  If the majority/concensus opinion is
counter to your goals.  Don't expect gratitude.  The true solution may
be to seek clue rather than attempt planting it.

> > > People who subscribe from work often will have no say on this.
> >
> >
> >   - The obvious answer:  don't subscribe from work.  Use a dialup.
> >     SSH out to another system.  Additionally, _most_ mailers allow
> >     enabling/disabling of HTML.
> 
> Considering the privacy policy that most employers have, I'm not sure
> why anybody would feel safe conducting personal business through a
> work email account.

Bingo.

For me it's also a matter of brand preservation.  I and my email address
are fairly well known.  They'll eventually migrate to a domain I
control, but not for a while, at any rate.  No need to wash them out
with a changing stream of corporate addresses.

Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>           http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
   ARM Computer:  Customer Service Hell On Earth
     http://lists.svlug.org/pipermail/svlug/2001-November/038616.html

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