Lengthy replies

[Will Owen <nashwill912@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Watry asked:

"Maybe this is a question for the Meta Alfa Digest (if there is one),
but why is it so many posts have huge long repeated reply parts?  For
example, in vol. 9 no. 536, there was a one-line question about Alfa
mechanics in Dallas that included a three-page reply piece.  Is this
something people cannot prevent happening?"

I think what happens is people just hit REPLY and add their comments
without stripping out the rest of the Digest. This is much more of a
problem on some other lists I get - I guess some of it may have to do
with how different mail programs work. I get this Digest in my Netscape
mail box, and when I do REPLY I get a panel with all or most of the
message I'm replying to. I've usually highlighted and copied the portion
to which I'm replying anyway, so I just delete everything in the box and
then paste in the relevant part. 

I do have the option not to have the replied-to message visible in the
reply panel, but that whole message would still be posted back to my
correspondent anyway. I suspect this may be what's going on with some of
my other lists. It's not uncommon for me to get a 30K-plus Citroen list
that just about wears out my scrolling finger, yet has only maybe ten
lines of new correspondence.

Will Owen
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