[BC] Administriva - September 1

[Barry Mishkind]

Howdy all.

We've managed another month on the BROADCAST list! We're glad you're here.

Those of you who have been long-time subscribers to this list have 
noticed, I'm sure, the increase in traffic this year. Combined with 
the workload that many have, the list traffic can sometimes seem 
overwhelming. Even those who have moved to the Digest mode have 
noticed the increase - although we've started taking some steps to blunt that.

Although it is easier to just hit "Reply" and add a line or two 
reply, piles of quoted material can add up quickly. Especially the 
Digest readers see it first, having to scroll through a whole screen 
or two, to see that short "reply."  Over time, we noticed the Digests 
were coming more and more frequently, and with fewer posts in 
them.  With the help of volunteers, we are trying to help 
everyone.  For example, for some time now, we block any post with the 
word "Digest" in it. First, this prevents someone from replying to a 
post in the Digest, adding one line, and therefore immediately 
generating another Digest - for the one line. Secondly, "Digest" does 
not tell anyone what the subject of the post is.

One of the efforts that has been going on behind the scenes (mostly - 
we did have a glitch or two that some of you noticed) is to reduce 
the size of the messages by stripping out quoted headers and footers, 
including AOL ads and "disclaimers," for example, . Before we did 
this, it was not uncommon to see some posts with four, five or six 
sets of sigs, disclaimers, and footers.

The transition from manual editing to automatic stripping has been 
underway over the past month or so. It is not perfect, but has saved 
a lot of otherwise wasted electrons.

The next step that is being looked at is the quoting of entire posts 
(or entire posts and their quotes) to add only one line. Truly ... 
most quoting really only needs two or three lines to establish the 
point of a response. Quoting 50 or 60 lines to respond to one 
sentence again causes Digest readers to "glaze over" and likely miss 
your point. The big problem is the wide diversity of quoting methods. 
Some of you use the > marks, others use only the "original message" 
... and, when quoting, a mixture.

We would rather not edit your posts. We would like to encourage you 
to do so, for the benefit of all. An approach currently underway is 
that our volunteers are trying a "counter" that tries to estimate the 
percentage of quoted material in a post.  At the moment the "trip" 
point is set high - so high that no one should get a message unless 
they have added merely one or two lines to a huge quote. The 
auto-generated message is intended as a "reminder" - not as a comment 
on your thoughts.

Before this gets any longer, here is one more suggestion for those 
who struggle with the list traffic: Create a subdirectory in your 
mailer, and filter on the [BC] in the Subject line. That way all your 
list traffic will go to a separate place, and not "crowd out" your inbox.

As always, we appreciate your participation in the list, and sharing 
your knowledge and experience.

Hope this turns out to be a good month for you!