Quoting relevant material for response (was: Re: python vs perl lines of code)

[John Bokma]

"akameswaran at gmail.com" <akameswaran at gmail.com> wrote:

> quoting mechanism is available on the web interface and I haven't found
> it - I'd love to know how to use it.

http://groups.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14213

> Also i use the threaded view on
> the web client, so I have little trouble figuring out what is being
> referenced.

I mark messages as read when I have read them, so without a context I have 
no idea what "Joh, I disagree" (for example) is about, especially since I 
don't just post one message a day.

Also, due to how Usenet works, not everybody sees the messages in the same 
order as you do, or might even miss out a message or two (or several).

Finally, since Google provides a search engine for Usenet, it might be 
perfectly possible that your reply without a quote is the first result in 
such a search. 

I always recommend to write your reply in such a way that when you print 
it, and read it 3 months later you're able to understand the message when 
you read it top down.


> My comment about John being funny in fact was a generic comment, and
> while the remainder of my response was on topic - it still was not in
> response to 1 specific statement or another.  Quoting previous comments
> is useful, but not required to be in thread - IMHO.

True, but if it's not a reply to the previous person, then you might want 
to start a new thread, or you're replying to the wrong person.


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