From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Sat Oct 26 07:29:46 2002
Subject:Re: OT and Net-iquette

All,

>Do me a favor and let's keep the group on topic for focused clone
>discussions. Like Bruce, I have no issues with a little bit of OT bantering
>back and forth from time to time, but when it stretches into countless posts
>of one-liners regarding the human body, it's time to take it offline.
>
>We try to keep it fun around here but please consider the content of your
>postings and remember that nearly 500 members receive the messages. I'm
>currently looking at the Electro and there are tons of messages with Electro
>in the title but nothing about the Electro in the body of the message.
>Using "OT" in the message title helps others to weed through the messages,
>but my request would be to keep the OT stuff to a minimum and allow for
>focused clone discussion.

Might the newly ex-moderator step in and offer some additional suggestions?

I'm now getting the digest version of the CWSG, and it's difficult reading sometimes. What can you do to help? First, follow Eric's advice and use the OT header when required. Also, even if a thread isn't OT, it often changes focus over time. When this happens, a subject like this helps a lot:

Re: [CWSG] Speakeasy preamps (was: CX-3 vs. Electro)

The "was:" helps followers of the original thread to know that you are responding to their comments, but it also helps an Electro owner who isn't interested in tube preamps at this time to recognize that the thread has changed gears.

Secondly, digest readers would appreciate your taking the time to delete the unnecessary text -- ads, "your use of Yahoo Groups ...", multiple blank lines, etc. -- from your replies. (I used to go into the digests and manually filter out these pieces before archiving them on my website, but it eventually gave up.) It takes a little more time than just hitting Reply and Send, but it makes the digest a lot more readable. IMHO, it's also not necessary to keep the entire thread in every reply; one or two messages back is plenty.

In fact, I'll go one step further: If you are sending a thank-you to a list member who helped you out -- which shows good taste on your part -- and you want to do it online, extend the courtesy a bit further, as in this example:

Thanks! That helped me a lot.

> From: Bruce Wahler
> Subject: Re: VK-7 Leslie settings
> Date: October 33, 1929
>
> Try going into your menu and look for the Leslie settings. (I don't remember the exact



For those unfamiliar with the term, "" implies that there was more to the original post, but the sender didn't feel it was necessary to show the rest. By snipping off the bulk of the post, the reader doesn't have to scan down through an article that he/she may have just read, again saving time for digest viewers.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com