Terry wrote: > I doubt that this volume will be maintained. > In a short time, the problem will probably > correct itself. We just went thru a lull prior > to all this action.
This is true. TruthTalk often cycles in periods of activity and non-activity. The problem is that it is during the cycles of excessive activity that people unsubscribe. Coupled with that is the fact that even the participants feel overwhelmed with too much to read. Some will neglect other duties they have in order to keep up. While TruthTalk will definitely correct itself, how long would that take? How many will we lose who really wish to stay in the process? Not knowing when this problem will correct itself, I am going to make a few suggestions to be taken on a voluntary basis. I have reviewed the emails for the past two months and have noticed a couple of things besides the number of emails. Let me try to explain the problem first, then I will give a few suggestions. Besides the number of emails, there is the problem of volume. People with broadband internet connections and large hard drives are not going to recognize this problem as much as those with dial-up accounts and limited resources. You are going to have to put yourself in someone else's shoes to see it. Some users have free email accounts that limit their usage to something like 2 MB's of email. Some users are poor, and, in fact, they don't even have computers. They go to a local library to use the computers there. Many of you know my work with the poor and homeless, so I might be a little more sensitive to these situations and hence recognize it more quickly. One thing I don't want to do is oppress the poor by being insensitive to them just because I have my own computer here with a DSL connection. If a user has a 2 MB limit on email, and TruthTalk sends out about 700 KB to 1,000 KB per day, you can do the math and see that TruthTalk alone is clogging up their email box within just 2 to 3 days. If they have to visit the library to use a computer, then TruthTalk alone becomes a monopolizer. These users cannot just save the TruthTalk messages for later. They have to delete them without reading. Furthermore, if they miss a few days, their mail account becomes over the limit and important mail from others starts to bounce. So, they become forced to unsubscribe. So we have two problems here. There is the number of posts, but there also is the size of the posts. Now in reviewing the emails, I have come to realize that I have been slack with educating people about the need to edit posts correctly. Many posts simply repost the same message again with a one-liner stuck in there. This simply needs to stop. It is pure laziness. So following are the things I want to ask people to do. 1. Please do not quote excessively. If you can get by without quoting at all, do that. Usually when you do quote, just a line or two from the previous post in order to refresh the reader's memory is sufficient. 2. Use the subject line to keep matters on thread. The subject line can be used to keep related posts together since most email client programs can sort by subject line. Try not to change the subject line unless you are changing the subject. If the subject gets off track to a subject that has nothing to do with the subject line, change the subject line to something that describes the subject, but stick with that subject until a new subject develops. The reason for using the subject line in this way is so that you will not have to quote excessively. If someone cannot remember what you are replying to, they can just sort by subject and then read the previous post easily. 3. If you have the capability to post in plain text, please do that. Plain text does not contain hidden text that informs the browser what colors and fonts to use for the text. This means that plain text email uses a lot less space than html or rich text. Another thing you should know, and that is that we have a digest version that combines emails, but these are displayed in a way that the html code is not interpreted. Therefore, while plain text emails are just as easy to read in the digest version, the colorful emails are not. The reader sees all the formatting codes in there and must wade through them for text that is recognizable to them. So plain text will help those users who have requested the digest version due to limited resources. 4. Limit yourself on the use of backgrounds and graphics. I don't want to ask that these never be used. I have enjoyed Terry's use of graphics and backgrounds from time to time. However, these things do use up space, so use them purposefully. In other words, if the text communicates what you need to communicate, then use text without any background or graphics. If you are trying to communicate something with a graphic background or picture, then feel free to do it. Just keep in mind that such things take up space, so use them efficiently and purposefully. 5. Keep a count of the number of posts you send. If you are very passionate about the subject and just feel you must reply right away, fine, I'm not going to limit it at this time. However, if you have been feeling overwhelmed with too much to read, then limit the number of posts that you send to say one a day. You might try sliding down to 1. In other words, if you have been posting 10 a day, bring it down to 5 today. Then tomorrow, bring it to 3. The next day 2, and finally down to 1. Then try to keep it at 1 a day. This will enable more people to post. Again, I am not making a rule out of this. I'm just trying to encourage those who see sense in this to be courteous to others and make an attempt. 6. Feel free to combine answers to several emails into one email. This action alone reduces repetition and tends to cause the volume of email to become reduced. Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
