Re: [artshow_photo] Trim the message (not the messenger)

I hope you mean to delete the comments prior to the post your are
commenting on, it's critical to understanding that you include the post
to which you are replying, or perhaps to a part of it if the post was long.

Replies without their antecedents can be very confusing, particularly if
people aren't staying at their desk and reading all the comments in
something close to real time. And if someone posts a message and ten
people reply, and then someone replies to one of those replies and
characterizes it as idiotic without enough context to know exactly which
message is so denigrated, nine people are likely to get upset in error.
Any savings from zealous trimming will then be lost ten times over.

I've been participating in and moderating online discussions for over
twenty years. Keeping reply chains clear is critical to efficient and
orderly discourse.

I tend to trim reply chains, and I trim aggressively here because of
Larry's preference, but as long as the comments are added to the top of
the messages so nobody needs to scroll down through the whole reply
chain unless they're unsure of the exact history, it really isn't
terribly important anymore. When modems ran at 300 baud, and we paid
more per hour of connection time than most people now pay per month,
this was critical. Now it shouldn't matter. But I still have these urges
to keep thing compact and efficient.

I don't even begrudge the occasional use of emoticons.

Van

On 28/02/2011 1:30 PM, Gary wrote:
>
> Each month Larry sends out a note, sometimes more often, about
> trimming replies. I was traveling last week and like to keep up on
> what is going on in the group. I learn a lot and contribute some.
>
> It's real easy to start typing a reply while the passion is on your
> mind. But I've got to tell you, trying to read the summary email when
> each topic has not had the previous comments removed sure eats up a
> lot of space. Last week it was the topic on trailers. Some posters
> resent the previous 3 or 4 messages with the original.
>
> Please for the love of ??? (your choice) take the 3 seconds or so that
> it takes to highlight and delete the previous post you are replying to
> from the response.
>
> Makes it a lot easier read on a blackberry, iPhone, iPad or your
> favorite other device.
>
> :)
>
> Gary
>

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