As people that excessively quote know, they will after-the-fact get a note
from me. Recently I have been sending out far too many notes. I'd rather
not have to send any at all. In general if you put the prior post below
your reply I will consider it excessive no matter what you quoted. People
that put the quoted material before the reply will be assumed to have
reviewed what they are quoting and will be given more leniency. Everybody I
know reads from top to bottom.

Only the absolute minimum needed to convey context should be quoted. If in
doubt then quote none at all. This is a list rule, and a rule of St. Johns
University, our list host.

Someone recently apologized for the length of their post. As it was all
original material there is no restriction on what you want to write, and
post to the list, as long as it is on topic, which it was.

Thanks, Don.