Excerpts from David Artman's message of Tue Nov 09 11:50:45 -0500 2010: > I requested this common courtesy because I have a VERY tough time > following the Digest, when short posts have (sometimes) ten paragraphs > of text with ">" and ">>" and ">>>>>>>" between them. My biggest > difficulty lies in the fact that I miss someone's contribution because > it's short and "buried" between two long top-posts. Suggestion: some email clients now have a feature which will collapse quoted material by default, with an easy way to expand it using an appropriate UI metaphor. Something like that might help you not miss new contributions in the digest. If your MUA of choice is sufficiently extensible, you might even be able to use color to highlight the inter-message boundaries in digest mail, or a key binding to jump to the next message within the digest. (I use 'sup' these days, which should be able to do this with a simple hook. I can't speak to other software, though I know the gmail web interface offers quote collapsing.) I don't think the technological solution is sufficient, but I also think a lot of people are never going to change their ways; improving your experience in light of that at least makes your life easier. > Moving this to Geek is sort of pointless--folks on that list already > know (and, IIRC, don't top post nearly as often). Ending the > "discussion" (if a request followed by a bunch of bunny stomps is a > discussion) is a very good idea, at this point, I agree. I made a > request. I won't do so again. When you get your next digest you may notice (and presumably will have by the time you read this) that the accusations of whining were followed up by a few messages of support that the USENET way is preferable and not particularly onerous. I don't think an occasional polite request is out of place, although it's likely to escalate quickly as it always seems to because people are upset that you're asking them to change their behavior.
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