On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 09:30:47AM +0000, Simon Hobson wrote:
> shraptor <shraptor@???> wrote:
>
> > I must admit I am really clueless to what is considered good practice in mailing-lists.
> ...
> > I am not rude on purpose but I truly don't know mailing-list style of interaction.
> > Should I delete this or keep this? Write here or write there?
>
> In "days of old" it was accepted netiquette that when replying to an
> email, you would quote enough of the original text to give the
> context for what you are writing, and then add your reply after the
> question/statement. The very act of trimming the quoted material is,
> IMO, useful in itself in that it makes the writer think about what
> is and isn't important to set the context - sometimes that may just
> a one liner, sometimes it may need selected bits from several
> pervious quotes.

[cut]

> My view is that, especially if asking for help, one should put some
> effort into making your messages easy to read. That ony takes one
> person's time - if it's hard to read then it may take time from
> tens, hundred, or even thousands of people to follow it. If you want
> someone to help you, then it's good practice to make it easy for
> them to do so. If you write in a manner that suggests that you do
> not value that other person's time, then why should they give some
> of it up to help you ?

Dear Simon,

yours is a very nice post, which should be quoted verbatim and
entirely (but you know, I deliberately decided to include only what I
considered the most relevant bits, inserting a "[cut]" where deleted
text was placed, just to provide another example of what is normally
meant by "quoting"...)

Unfortunately, rants of this kind have low probability of resulting in
any tangible effect. The vast majority of people just don't care. The
vast majority of people just want their email to be read, understood,
interpreted, and they want to receive useful feedback, help, advice
responses, without making any effort to convey their message in the
most clear and accessible way.

If quoting styles say anything about a person, persistent top-quoting
shouts "indifference" and "selfishness", IMHO.

My2Cents

KatolaZ

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[ Enzo Nicosia aka KatolaZ --- GLUG Catania -- Freaknet Medialab ]
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