On Tue, 10 Feb 2004, Matthew Klahn wrote: #On Feb 9, 2004, at 22:01 , David Maxwell wrote: #> In a discussion forum where many people read your message, it's only #> decent of you to put some time into editing things down to a pure form. #> Quoting two screenfuls of previous messages doesn't help anyone - #> that's #> what the archives are for. # #You know, I've wondered for the past couple of days if the mailing list #might be better presented in some form of web forum, like phpbb or #ubbthreads. I say this not so that we can have picture sigs or any of #that crap, but rather just that it would be much easier to trim out #stuff and might make reading a particular thread a little nicer. Also, #if you ignore an entire thread, you don't have to delete it from your #Inbox. I know that most people won't like this suggestion, but it #occurred to me. Oh, and, you can do things like password protect the #forums and have people have to register to post, etc. so that you don't #have trouble with bots posting, etc. I don't use web mail when I can avoid it. I read my mail in pine. What do I lose? Flashing lights, HTML format, click-and-load pictures and music and webpages, oh my! What do I gain? Clear text (usually), no email viruses (ever). What do I already have that you say I would gain? Lessee... I can sort my mail by subject line. I can then go down the sorted index and say, - "I'll read this thread": ENTER to read; then N for next, read it, repeat as needed - "I'll delete this thread": type ':' to flag the current message in the index and move the highlight to the next one, repeat as needed; then 'A' 'D' 'X' to delete all the messages I've flagged - "I'll read this thread later": flag with ':', then 'A' 'S' to save, type name of folder to save into - "I'll export this thread into a file to download to home" ..... And so on. #Thoughts, opinions, flames? Btw, I do appreciate having this mailing #list, and I also appreciate the people that make it possible. I'm not #trying to offend anyone or raise any hackles, but just wondering #something outloud... err... in text. Discussion like this is a Good Thing. -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website