Readalong

First up?

Sat Jun 15 12:23:23 PDT 2002

Chris Turkel <zizban at adelphia.net> wrote on Fri, 14 Jun 2002 21:21:21
> 
> On Friday, June 14, 2002, at 06:36 PM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> 
[re: Chris' original formulation of Rule 2]

> > The use of "only" in the first sentence confuses me.  Do you mean that
> > the subject header should consist *only* of the name of the book and
> > chapters?  That one should not attempt to separate threads by giving
> > them distinct subjects?  Or are you only saying *not* to put spoiler
> > notices there?

> It should have said "Only put the book or chapter(s) we are reading in 
> the subject. This can be whittled down to "Re:Teckla discussion of 
> Chapter four, page 4"

That's not much better: It still sounds like the Subject can contain
only the title and chapter.  I've been advised that one should put the
word "only" as near as possible to the thing it restricts, as that
usually makes things clearer.  Here's my suggested rewrite, with extra
clarification:

    For the book we are discussing, put the title and/or chapters only
    in the Subject line; don't put them in the message body.  (The Subject
    may, indeed probably should, contain additional information.)

I also recommend a much more concise format, e.g. "Teckla ch4 p23" or
even "Teckla:4:23", to make room for additional info.  We might also
want to abbreviate some titles, e.g. FHYA or 500YA instead of "Five
Hundred Years After".

- tky