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I really don't intend this message as a flame or a slam or any of those
other anti-social forms of communication. My intention is to remind all
of us on this list (new and old members, alike) of a few items of common
courtesy that we've gotten kind of lax about recently. I've been tempted
to post on this issue several times in recent weeks, but several postings
yesterday finally pushed me over the edge. Herewith are my top three
pet peeves.
1) PLEASE be careful about the size of included text in your postings.
Many of the postings in the recent thread about novelists have been
quite long, and many of them have been made even longer by including
the entire text of someone else's long posting. Some postings have
even contained two levels of inclusion. The posting guidelines (or does
Eric now call them "rules"?) are quite clear on the subject of
inclusions,
but many of us either disregard them or have never bothered to figure
out how to use our e-mail program to reply to a message without including
the entire text of the original message.
2) PLEASE read the List Information footer that is on *every* message
the listserver sends before you embarrass yourself by asking a silly
question on the list itself. It really seems as if this footer becomes
totally invisible to most readers, which is a shame because it succintly
provides all the information you need to deal with adminstrative issues
off-list. If the command example "SIGNOFF TECHWR-L" isn't an obvious
enough instruction on how to unsubscribe, then the instruction to send
e-mail to the listowner (our long-suffering Eric Ray) regarding questions
and problems. This footer (included below, just in case you have never
noticed it) may not be a manual, but the imperitive "RTFM" still
applies...
> TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
>to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
> to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
> Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
>browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
3) PLEASE include your e-mail address in the body of your posting or in
your sig. The recent thread about slamming pointed up the fact that off-
line replies are often a more appropriate response than a slam posted to
the list; but if you don't include your e-mail address in your message
you give people no alternative.
Trying to be helpful to all of us...
Fred Ridder
f -dot- ridder -at- dialogic -dot- com
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
