-=PCTechTalk=- Re: pctechtalk readability hurt by sloppy (or rude?) habits!
- From: Gman <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:20:42 -0400
Hi Don,
You were not the only one to reply to the original post. That makes me
wonder what else you may have been missing. Don't feel too bad, though.
I've been a victim of simlar issues elsewhere and still haven't figured out
why it happens. lol
More for all, with occasional 'Don' references: ;)
In my experience, people generally hold off on posting something like
the original post until they've reached a boiling point. I feel that
Greywolfe did an outstanding & highly commendable job of tempering his
discontent, but I could still 'feel the heat' he was holding back. I'll bet
that most of you could, as well. But my own experience has also taught me
that if a valid complaint is met with anything less than compassion and a
strong willingness to reflect on its 'face value' validity, understanding
and compromise become almost unattainable. In a group or family setting,
small misunderstandings can explode into much larger issues in a heartbeat
(i.e. some couples have divorced on the grounds that the spouse squeezes he
toothpaste in the middle of the tube), so I felt it was very important for
me to interject what I said in my previous reply and it was directed to all
members.
The method that Don and I often use for more highly technical
discussions (i.e. "see below") actually helps the folks receiving a digest
by removing the need for jumping back & forth between multiple long posts.
Plus, both of us routinely remove the extraneous stuff that doesn't warrant
additional comment (although he has been more consistant with that than I).
Unless I'm not seeing an important point, these particular discussions are
not the ones that cause anguish for those members.
I also believe, but am wide open to correction by anyone set to digest
mode, that it's always preferrable to leave in the post to which you're
replying so that the reference is right there for the reader. Even then, I
often try to remove any parts of that previous post that's not being carried
forward into my reply. A post that simply contains the word "Thanks!" gives
us no clue as to who is being thanked or why they deserved it. If the post
they're replying to is just below it, it becomes very easy to see that the
person was thanking YOU for helping them with (fill in the blank).
The problem arises when anything sent to the group contains the previous
reply PLUS the reply previous to that (and/or even more than that). As a
'Normal Mode' subscriber, I will never scroll down far enough to see any of
those 'previous' parts of the conversation. But the folks on 'Digest Mode'
have no choice. If they want to get to the next post to the group, they
HAVE to scroll past all of that 'old junk' at the end of every post that
contains it. I can only imagine that this frequently repeated waste of time
& effort gets 'old' in a hurry for them, so this is where our collective
'compassion & reflection' needs to come into play to make the group worth
the effort for ALL members.
Just keep in mind that ML has an actual need for more reminders than
most. But don't get too carried away with it. She's not helpless by any
means. Just a little forgetful at times. ;)
My name is Gman and I approved this message.
http://www.thevenusproject.com/index.php
"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask"
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