Editing Replies

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Andrew suggests:
"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."


Another way might be the following: don't just hit "reply" when your
editor automatically incorporates the original text.  Just open a New
Message and use Cut or Copy and Paste or quote relevant passages (as
I have done above).  (My editor does not automatically copy text--and I
have to address each post to this list--unlike some others--separately
because the return address is that of the original sender.)

All in all, this is not a bad thing because if I quoted *all* of Andrew's
messages alone, we would clog up many a memory bank!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)