[LEN-E] Please...

[Nick Haysom]

Ron, I know you keep on about this and I sympathise but I fear you are waging a losing battle. It is second nature for most people to hit Reply and add their comments without thinking to delete preceding comments; I think only with AOL is the default *not* to quote the previous message. It is also *logical* in that people feel they are responding to the totality of the thread. A huge advantage is that messages can stand alone within their context, and it is not necessary to search back thru the list to discover what initiated a thread or to locate a reference point.

I would also point out that those who subscribe to the digest appear to be almost exclusively lurkers and one might ask why those who post should conform to the preferences of those who don't. I'm afraid I don't see what on earth this has to do with treating other people with respect. Moreover, traffic on this list is not so high a daily digest is really called for. 

Sorry, I'm off my soapbox now. I just feel that as you keep bringing this up it might be an idea to discuss it a bit, particularly as in many years of membership of many many online lists I have never encountered this particular instruction elsewhere. I accept, of course, that this is your list and I will try to remember to trim... as here (but at what point in the thread am I now replying...?)

Nick