repeating portions of earlier messages

[Dave Wilton]

> Trimming this message down to its relevant parts, and adding
> one's response in the appropriate place, not only ensures that
> the sequence is clear and the background is known (whether
> because one has forgotten the original discussion, not
> received it because of mail gremlins, or whatever), but that
> readers know what the new post is actually about. And that
> bandwidth--network, storage, or perceptual--isn't wasted.

I'd like to echo Jesse's comment and add that since this list is archived,
if one is joining the conversation late, it is relatively easy to go to the
archive and catch up on the entire thread. I do this all the time if when I
discover a thread that I've been ignoring holds interest for me. And
trimming the message and adding the response at the appropriate location is
extremely helpful when looking at messages in the archive.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net