Fellow Foucauldians,
I think the following message, originally posted to the KANT list,
applies to our, as well as other lists. I therefore take the liberty to
forward it here.
A.O.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 19:31:34 -0400
From: Andrew Brook <abrook@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list <kant-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Embedding
In some contexts, embedding is a good thing but an email list is not one
of them. I just read a message to Kant-L that copied a message that had
already copied another message!! Thus a very short message took over 100
lines of disk space. A great way to have the message suffer the faith of
being zapped by the `d' button without even being glanced at. A basic
rule of lists is: copy messages only when other members of the list will
need them to follow you, and then edit out absolutely everything from the
original message not needed for your message (like the two pages of header
that some messages come with). Now, some people do not know how to reply
without copying, or how to edit when copying. It would be a good idea to
learn; the skills are very basic, no more complicated than typing for
certain, and they make a huge difference to the readability of what you
send out.
For me a good rule paraphrases an ancient Canadian prime minister: More
than one screen if necessary; but not necessarily more than one page. In
email, short really is beautiful.
Andrew
--
Andrew Brook, Professor of Philosophy
Director, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies
1101 Dunton Tower, Carleton University
1125 Col. By Drive, Ottawa, CANADA K1S 5B6
Ph: (613) 788-3597 Fax: (613) 788-3985
Email: abrook@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I think the following message, originally posted to the KANT list,
applies to our, as well as other lists. I therefore take the liberty to
forward it here.
A.O.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 19:31:34 -0400
From: Andrew Brook <abrook@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Multiple recipients of list <kant-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Embedding
In some contexts, embedding is a good thing but an email list is not one
of them. I just read a message to Kant-L that copied a message that had
already copied another message!! Thus a very short message took over 100
lines of disk space. A great way to have the message suffer the faith of
being zapped by the `d' button without even being glanced at. A basic
rule of lists is: copy messages only when other members of the list will
need them to follow you, and then edit out absolutely everything from the
original message not needed for your message (like the two pages of header
that some messages come with). Now, some people do not know how to reply
without copying, or how to edit when copying. It would be a good idea to
learn; the skills are very basic, no more complicated than typing for
certain, and they make a huge difference to the readability of what you
send out.
For me a good rule paraphrases an ancient Canadian prime minister: More
than one screen if necessary; but not necessarily more than one page. In
email, short really is beautiful.
Andrew
--
Andrew Brook, Professor of Philosophy
Director, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies
1101 Dunton Tower, Carleton University
1125 Col. By Drive, Ottawa, CANADA K1S 5B6
Ph: (613) 788-3597 Fax: (613) 788-3985
Email: abrook@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx