[Mailman-Users] The "right" way to reply to a mailing list
Steven D'Aprano
steve at pearwood.info
Mon Mar 23 12:56:48 CET 2015
On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 05:45:58PM -0700, Mark Sapiro wrote:
> I do understand that in some business situations (contract negotiations,
> attorney/client communication and the like), it is useful and pretty
> much demanded that each message contain the full transcript of what went
> before,
I don't think it is useful. It might be demanded, but that's just
because it's the convention, not because it's useful. If it were useful
to include a full transcript of everything that went on prior in each
and every message, lawyers would do so with paper correspondence (and
charge the client for photocopying). But they don't.
I've been through a number of (thankfully minor) legal actions, and
going through conventional top-posted emails is *painful*. It makes
searching for keywords ineffective in all the email clients I've used.
Nobody ever bothers to read or go through the quoted transcripts, why
would you read the quoted-to-the-nth-degree text when you can read the
original?
The worst example I found was quoted twenty-one levels deep. A three
line response plus sig (naturally including one of those nonsense legal
disclaimers about not reading the email if you aren't the intended
recipient) followed by about thirty pages of quoted text starting with >
then >> then >>> and so on to >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. And it was my job
to go through it, and the rest of the emails in the thread, in both
directions, looking for anything relevent to the legal action. Even
though I wasn't actively reading the quoted sections, the sheer volume
of cruft to wade through is brain-melting. Counting the entire
conversation, the original post was duplicated something like fifty or
sixty times.
Fun times.
> but this has no place on an email discussion list.
Agreed! But too many people replying with their smart phones and
iProducts can't do anything else...
> This is a major hot-button issue for me, The above is only scratching
> the surface.
I feel your pain :-)
--
Steve
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