Some thoughts below. I guess the bottom line is that altho we can always
improve our nettiquette, I haven't felt a need to net.cop anyone.
> First, I am seeing a lot of messages being posted that are of importance to
> only one or possibly two members of the mailing list, and not to the group as
> a whole.
>
How do you know a message is of interest to only a few until it's read?
Certainly there's been no shortage of digressions form a topic, but I
(and you) can always read the header and just say 'Delete'
> Second, I truly wish that others would check previous responses to a question
> before posting their own. Often this is just an unneccessary repeating of
> something that has been said already. I notice this particularly among AOL
> and other .com users.
>
Not everyone checks their mail every day (or hour), and not everyone sees
the messages in the same order as you. Again, if you've seen all the
answers to an issue you care to see, *read the headers*. Also, to single
out .COM and .AOL users seems to be needlessly biased; there are newbies
@ .NET and .EDU and .GOV domains as well.
> All of these things are breaches of common netiquette, and as users of one of
> the fastest growing forms of communication we have an obligiation to abide by
> these rules.
>
We all do need to be aware of the number of people that these messages go
to, and try to use common courtesy as we communicate. I don't feel that
all the items you indicated were *huge* violations of nettiquette.
> I have neither the time or the patience to sift through
> messages which should not be posted in the first place. Thank you.
>
You seem to be interested in only recieving information that you find
interesting, in a form and format you want. A list is by it's nature is
a diverse group with wide interests. Therefore, filtering is part of
being on the 'net, and certainly part of being on a mailing list. I'm
still not clear why you want the list to adjust to *your* needs, rather
than just deleting headers that don't interest you.
Not flaming, just exploring...
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