Re: [O] Trimming quotes
Hi Thomas, t...@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) writes: As penance for my often low signal to noise ratio ;) and a small token of my appreciation for the Org community and its product, I've drafted a description of the mailing list for Worg, which AFAICT lacked one: http://orgmode.org/worg/org-mailing-list.html Thanks! And a happy new year too :) -- Bastien
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
On 30/12/12 05:01, Nick Dokos wrote: PS. FWIW, my guidelines are to trim as much as possible. I include the question(s) that I respond to and insert my answers inline. I try to include enough context so that somebody reading just that piece of mail can make (at least some) sense of the questions and the answers. And I delete any part that I'm not directly commenting on. I agree with most of what Nick said. However, it's nice if you find a thread on something like gmane that you can get all the information in one message, so you don't have to hunt up and down the thread. So I like to see: * Original problem ** Quoted stuff showing whats been suggested and if it failed the reasons. ** Final solution and other suggestions In summary I would just like to look at the last message in a thread to gather all the relevant information. Ian.
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
Nick Dokos nicholas.do...@hp.com writes: Ben Finney ben+em...@benfinney.id.au wrote: t...@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) writes: Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? In brief: Don't respond at all to a digest message. Instead, […] Tom did not respond to a digest message. Indeed; I didn't intend to imply otherwise. I was responding to Tom's request for guidelines on how to trim quotes in a reply when one is receiving the list digest. -- \ “[I]t is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he | `\thinks he already knows.” —Epictetus, _Discourses_ | _o__) | Ben Finney
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
James Harkins jamshar...@gmail.com writes: On Dec 29, 2012 11:23 PM, Thomas S. Dye t...@tsdye.com wrote: Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? I don't know where to find published guidelines As penance for my often low signal to noise ratio ;) and a small token of my appreciation for the Org community and its product, I've drafted a description of the mailing list for Worg, which AFAICT lacked one: http://orgmode.org/worg/org-mailing-list.html I've tried to capture the gist of what's been discussed here, but I'm certain it could be improved. Please feel free to make changes. Happy New Year! Tom -- Thomas S. Dye http://www.tsdye.com
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
Hi James, James Harkins jamshar...@gmail.com writes: Just a reminder to be kind to list members who are receiving digests and TRIM QUOTED MATERIAL. Recently: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/63982 That's me! I want to be kind. 48 lines of new content vs 1123 lines of quotes, for a whopping signal-to-noise ratio of 4.27%. Scrolling isn't *that* much fun... Sometimes the new part is noisy, too :) Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? All the best, Tom -- Thomas S. Dye http://www.tsdye.com
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
On Dec 29, 2012 11:23 PM, Thomas S. Dye t...@tsdye.com wrote: Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? I don't know where to find published guidelines, but this is how I try to handle it: - Quote just enough to capture the gist of what you're replying to. (As here -- I'm answering a specific question, so I quote the question and trim out the rest.) Sometimes that calls for just a couple of lines, or it might need a longer chunk (of a code example, say). The thread I pointed to would have needed some longer quotes. - Quotes from messages earlier than the one you're directly answering should be avoided, but if you need material from an older message to get the gist, keep it really really short. (E.g., if you're quoting a long code snip from the previous message, there is no need to include the same code snip in higher quote levels.) - Avoid top-posting. Top-posting allows you to ignore the amount of quoted material beyond the mail editor window's lower boundary. You have no idea if it's 30, 50, 200 or over 1000 lines. (I know some have reasons to prefer top-posting and I don't want to reopen that debate, but it seems a valid observation that excessively long quotes usually come with top-posted replies. So an alternate way to say it is: If you really want to top-post, please also review the entire contents for redundancy before sending.) hjh
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
t...@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) writes: Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? In brief: Don't respond at all to a digest message. Instead, respond to the actual message you want to respond to; that way, your response will include correct fields in the header to preserve the thread of discussion. So, treat the digest message as a one-way channel. If you think you might ever respond, turn off digest mode and respond to individual messages. -- \ “A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order | `\ will lose both, and deserve neither.” —Thomas Jefferson, in a | _o__)letter to Madison | Ben Finney
Re: [O] Trimming quotes
Ben Finney ben+em...@benfinney.id.au wrote: t...@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye) writes: Can you point me to trimming guidelines for digest readers? In brief: Don't respond at all to a digest message. Instead, respond to the actual message you want to respond to; that way, your response will include correct fields in the header to preserve the thread of discussion. So, treat the digest message as a one-way channel. If you think you might ever respond, turn off digest mode and respond to individual messages. Tom did not respond to a digest message. He responded to an ordinary message on the list, one that was already bloated with untrimmed content, so the new comments in his response were a tiny fraction of the total. That in itself is somewhat unpleasant although tolerable, but James Harkins pointed out that for somebody reading the list in digest form, such messages cause some hardship. Nick PS. FWIW, my guidelines are to trim as much as possible. I include the question(s) that I respond to and insert my answers inline. I try to include enough context so that somebody reading just that piece of mail can make (at least some) sense of the questions and the answers. And I delete any part that I'm not directly commenting on.
[O] Trimming quotes
Just a reminder to be kind to list members who are receiving digests and TRIM QUOTED MATERIAL. Recently: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/63982 48 lines of new content vs 1123 lines of quotes, for a whopping signal-to-noise ratio of 4.27%. Scrolling isn't *that* much fun... I realize subsequent posts in that thread were trimmed, so it may be just a one- off oversight for these posters. But, it happens a lot, on several lists that I read, often enough that it's become a pet peeve. Thanks. hjh
