Hey, some of you, cut it out!--God damn it, please

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Unknown User writes:

> scrollbar. use the scrollbar. just because it's there doesn't mean you
> have to read it, but it's nice to have the referent available. (i'm
> responding to john here).

If you are responding just to John then you should be using private
email. But I am glad that you wrote to the list as it gives me a
chance to support and expand upon John's request.

Some list members have to use kit that makes it difficult for them to
scroll past text or means that they easily lose track of their place
(I believe that John is one such). It's no good asking him or other
people to use different kit as often they are not in a position to do
so. Furthermore, there is no need to push people into upgrading their
technology when simple courtesy can avoid the problem.

When replying please delete any text other than that which establishes
the position to which you wish to respond. It not only helps those who
have low-tech access it also avoids a lot of unnecessary scanning and
rescanning for the rest of us and should ensure that *you* focus your
point and state it as precisely and concisely as possible. Given the
current volume of list traffic these side effects from a simple matter
of common courtesy will be most welcome.

P.S. If you do not know how to edit included text or have difficulty
editing then please do not pass the problem on to the list. Find
someone to train you in how to use the facilities available on your
machine.

P.P.S. If you *do* know how to use the editor but *don't* know how to
avoid including lots of text then ditto - learn to structure your
writing online before imposing your prose on all of us. It's not the
same as writing on paper and it's not easy to learn except by watching
and then posting but here is some quick advice:

i) Break the text you are replying to into sections and answer the
points in each section one by one. You might also choose to top and
tail the response with something which states your general position
and further points or a summary position. But think about why you need
the text there. If your argument does no directly refer to the quoted
text then you probably don't need to quote it (paraphrase or just rely
on other contributors having a good enough recall of the arguments).

ii) Where you do delete text place a . . . or [. . .] before ro after
the text you leave to indicate that things have been
deleted. Sometimes you might put a brief summary in square brackets
e.g.

  [argument re politeness deleted]

iii) When your reply has been composed read the whole thing through to
ensure that it flows and that the separate points you have made add up
to a whole.

iv) Don't change the title of the thread you are responding to unless
you have a goodreason to like e.g. you wish to address a related but
different subject. Even a small change (capitalisation, additional
words, reordering words) can make it difficult for others to track
threads or look up previous notes. It also makes it harder to find
things in the archive if you change titles.


Andrew Dinn
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And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.