Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sinwen" <sinwen@f...> wrote:
> Tom,
> 
> As you don't keep the message you are answering to we don't understand what you are 
saying. As I use a 4000 I could have been interested by your post but understand nothing 
of it. Also what do you mean by USFA ?
> 
> Michel
======================

From reading the subject line I would guess that USFA is Ultra Smooth Fine Art--and I see 
that Tom has also posted that in a subsequnet reply.

I agree that including salient parts of prior postings can be helpful--sometimes the 
abbrevations posted here are more challenging than the NYT (New York Times) crossword 
puzzle.  But, if I haven't been following a string, I go to the archives to read the history.

What's really unfortunate is that, in "coaching" Tom, Michel included not only the prior 
message in his post, but all of the admin info at the end of it--including the instructions 
that Tom was following to clean up threads:

     "..As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep them short."

As a result of including Tom's note AND all the group admin info,  Michel's posting of a 
two line reply resulted in a 1 1/2 page note.  Tom's later reply replicated it.

We frequently get digests from this list that are 50 or more pages long, but only contain 
1-2 pages of new info in the postings.  Sometimes a single reply of 2 words includes a 
string of notes, each with the admin info at the end, making a single 2 word posting 4-5 
pages long! 

It would be a nice thing if we could include enough of a prior thread to make sure replies 
are useful (Like Michel asks for), but trim all the excess stuff off the bottom.

Closing notes:  

1.  I'm offering this as a positive suggestion for all of us--my apologies to Tom and Michel 
for using their notes for an example--  :-)

2.  I think (i'm guessing here) this happens most often when users get individual emails 
instead of the digest.  The admin info is included at the end of each mail sent out and also 
on the bottom of each digest.  When users get the individual emails and choose reply to 
the list, their email program includes the admin info, but they likely never scroll down far 
enough to ever see it and therefore don't realise they are sending it along with therir reply.

3.  Perhaps the group moderator would consider changing to an edited, abbreviated 
version of the admin info with a link to a more detailed version?