Finally getting around to answering an old question. Sorry for the delay.
Bill Babcock wrote:
>First one bounced--too big. Hey Mark, isn't 4K a bit too restrictive?
>
>
Well, yes and no, sort of. It is an arbitrary limit I just picked. On
some of the
other big lists, though, it is only 3K. Basically the problem lies in
the default
behavior of many popular email clients in use today. When people respond
to a message, the *entire* message is added to the end of the response.
Unlike
this message, which has only one pertinent line included, at the
beginning, where
it is clear to see the issue under discussion.
So what happens is that as people continue discussion on a topic, the
messages
keep getting longer and longer and longer and longer. There may be only two
or three lines still pertinent to the discussion or necessary for
context, but all
the useless verbiage keeps getting dragged along for the ride.
Last time I actually ran some statistical programs on the Team.Net lists,
about 70 - 80 percent of the character count of list messages was text
that was included for no real reason at all. That's about the same as
buying
a 6 pack of your favorite beverage, and getting one or two that are the
actual fresh, new beverage, the rest are, uh, recycled product.
All this extra, useless text does is slow down the Team.Net network line,
transmitting bits that it doesn't need to transmit. It slows down the list
archiving processes, as they have to go over the same text again and again.
Gee, nothing like getting 50 hits on your search only to find that 48 of
them
are the same old paragraph added again and again and again to peoples
replies. The added replies slow down the mail processing, adding to
the delays in getting the messages out to the list.
If the preceding paragraph is too much computer jargon for you to get
your mind around, then think of it this way - how would your race car start
behaving if every time you crossed the start/finish line you had to stop and
take on another 50 pounds of ballast?
And of course, there is the time I have to spend cleaning up bouncing
addresses because all the clueless replies filled up the mailboxes of
hapless subscribers who've hit their limit.
I know that I'm never going to be able to singlehandedly change human
behavior, but it sure would be nice if a few more folks spent an extra
few seconds on their list messages. Set your mailer to NOT include the
original in your reply, just paste in the appropriate line or two as I did
above. Or at least delete the text that serves no purpose in your response,
rather than just absentmindedly trying to stuff it down the Team.Net pipe
for no useful reason.
If you do have a lot to say and your all-original message does hit up
against the size limit, I do try to stay somewhat current with admin
requests, and I'll approve such messages and get them on their way
as I have time.
Gee, this message is getting kind of long. Wonder how many folks will
respond, and include it in its entirety in their response? For now, I'll
just send it off and then spend some more time wading through the
7,664 unread messages cuurently in my Team.Net admin mailbox.
mjb.
_______________________________________________
http://www.team.net/donate.html
Fot mailing list
Fot@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
|