Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 13:44:02 -0500
From: Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at radix.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: message length policy
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

ronkean at juno.com wrote:

> Instead of blocking long messages, could you just snip them to a certain
> length?  If you did that, it would encourage top posting (for short
> answers), and it would encourage economy for longer, interleaved,
> answers.  I think a 4K limit would combat archive bloat.

I'd much prefer that messages appeared as written.  (Personally, I
enjoyed seeing something longer than one line, and the write-up
itself.)  One list that I'm on where there's a great deal of complex
discussion has a limit that, when reached, sends the message to the list
master rather than to the list itself.  He takes a look at it to see if
it's spam and then, if it isn't, has the system break it into two
posts.  If people are interested I can check to see what the limit is.

As an aside, one way to deal with massive quoting is for folks to start
following what is fairly standard netiquette: quote what you're replying
to and then write your response.

Elspeth