Some of you are getting sloppy at trimming and editing your responses to
the list, and I am finding myself beginning to skip reading some of your
messages  because I find them too untidy. I find it frustrating having to
spend time figuring out where the quoted messages end and where the
responses begin and the prospect of all the extra work of cleaning up the
archives after each month does not thrill me either. So please:

 - When responding to a message edit out everything but the part you are
actually responding to.

 - At the top of the edited message that you are responding to, write the
name of the person who wrote it.

 - In the left margin before each line of the message you are quoting, make
sure there is a ">" (greater than) sign or if there are several quoted
messages ">>" and so on. Even if your mail program is not supportive of
this, it only takes a few extra moments to add them manually. It makes your
messages much easier to read especially for those with mail readers that
color code according to the ">" (or the ">>").

 - The only exception to using ">" before each line of quoted message would
be to clearly identify EACH segment of quoted message(s) with the name of
the person who wrote it and make clear separation spaces between the
response and the quoted message or between the quotes if there are several
at once. (these spaces need to be made anyway even when using the ">" no
matter the nature of the segments.) The bottom line is: before sending off
a message to the list be courteous to the rest of us by making sure it is
easy to read and will not fill up our mail boxes with unnecessary clutter.

 - If the content of a thread changes, make the subject line reflect it
with a (was: ...) which makes it easier to follow the threads and do
subject searches in the archives.

 - Keep sig files at the end of your message short to about three or four
lines.

Subscribers who repeatedly are unable to follow these guidelines will
without further warning be put on review meaning that until they have
learnt how to post properly to the list, their messages will be sent to me
first for editing (form, not content) before being sent back to sender to
re-post to the list. We all make mistakes now and then and that is OK. What
I am addressing here are those who are more systematic in their errors.
They can expect to be on review (to avoid possible embarrassment nobody
else on the list will know about it) for about a week or two or for as long
it takes for them to learn - of cause after two weeks I will have to start
charging for my editing services ;-). For my own sake I will probably
regret implementing this but having to have continuous private threads
asking subscribers to please follow the posting guidelines is very tedious
& frustrating as well and for sure does not tickle me to death. :-/ It has
been suggested to me that I should follow the custom of some lists:
Everybody is on review until they have proven themselves with enough skill
to post on their own recognizance but I find this a too drastic a measure
that would guarantee that I would have no life besides this list. :-(

The daily posting limit for each subscriber is now automatically set at
five so if anybody posts more than that, the messages will be returned by
listserv with a request to post them the next day. For those of you who
only have time to write your messages once or twice a week, you can still
do so - just send what is above the first five messages off the following
day(s). In a tight spot messages that are just short comments or are not
likely to start new threads, can be tied together. Please use your
discretion and remember it will never be possible to respond to everything
you want to or that you feel deserves a reply anyway and that if you
respond to too much, you are quite likely to be taken less seriously - an
inflationary effect I guess. :-)

If enforcing these rules means that some of you will have to post less or
even leave the list all together, so be it. I would rather have a cleaner
and leaner list than a busier one packed with a lot of clutter and
difficult to read messages.

If any of the above is unclear or if there are any questions please contact
me privately.

Please save this message for future reference.

I thank you for your cooperation.

Best, Peter
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