List Businesss

[Marty Jacobsen]

Dear Discours-ers:

We, the list owners, have a couple of requests.  First, formats such as
HTML, Mime, and Outlook create problems for some subscribers.  If the use
of these formats can be avoided for messages sent to DISCOURS, everyone
will benefit.

We also request that only relevant portions of the messages you reply to
be reproduced.  Quite often, the message to which one replies is simply
appended to the end of a reply.  This does little to help contextualize
the reply and takes up archive space.

Third, many interesting discussions may be dying because the subject line
of the message introducing a topic is not indicative of the subject
contained therein.  For instance, many replies to personal introductions
appear as "Re: Introduction" when in reality they discuss topics.  This
not only impedes discussions but also creates inadequate search terms in
the archives.

We are glad to see so much activity on DISCOURS.  These guidelines will
help keep the activity level high.

Thanks--Marty Jacobsen