[OS X TeX] huge digests full of dreck

[Johann Beda]

	I hate to sound like a broken record (or maybe a CD?) - but could
people please take care when sending email messages to this mailing list
(and others)?  The most recent digests have been as much as 50% quoted list
instructions, duplicate mime formatted messages, HTML formatted messages,
pgp signature headers and footers, quoted extraneous content and
excessively long signature files (not to name names: Ross, Edward,
Donal...). These can be particularly troubling for those people who read
the mailing list digest.

	If more than 50% of the content of your message that gets sent to
the list is not actually typed by you - you are probably doing something
wrong.  Unfortunately some of the most prolific and "important"
participants (in that they are making very valuable contributions) are
among the worst offenders!

	This is not rocket science folks...

	Please remember to cut out the signatures and other redundant
material from your replies to this (and any mailing list for that matter).
Also remember to turn off HTML email features, and avoid attachments.
Double check the subject to make sure it is appropriate for the message as
well. Quoting the entire thread after your own signature is particularly
annoying.

	TidBITS published an article on email list suggestions that is well
worth anyone reading.  The methods for automating signature selection are
very useful.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05386>

	There is RFC1855 that details expected normal behaviour, which one
would expect unless people have decided otherwise.

<http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt?number=1855>

I quote from RFC1855:
    - If you include a signature keep it short.  Rule of thumb
      is no longer than 4 lines.  Remember that many people pay for
      connectivity by the minute, and the longer your message is,
      the more they pay.
    - If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you
      ...[snip]... include just enough text of the original to give
      a context ...[snip]... But do not include the entire original!

	More on "top-posting" in general:

<http://fmf.fwn.rug.nl/~anton/topposting.html>

	Thankfully, the incidents of HTML email here have been minimal, but
here are some useful resources for that particular sin:

<http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/listowners/html-off.htm>
<http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1236/nomime.html>

	Anyhow, enough ranting...

	Thank you in advance for your continued efforts in this area.


-- 
* johann beda   <XNSName: =j-beda> <http://pobox.com/~j-beda/>   *

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