[sustran] gentle reminders on list use

[Paul Barter]

Hi again folks...

I am a novice list-owner so forgive me if I am ever off the mark... but I
have had a few requests to give a gentle reminder or two on the
practicalities of participating in a discussion list.

These are small matters and easy to do but they can make the list more
pleasant and useful for all of us. Some of the tips are already in the
introductory message for the sustran-discuss list (which I hope you saved).
If you have lost it then you can send a message to
<sustran-discuss-request at jca.ax.apc.org> with the body (not subject) of
your message:  intro sustran-discuss

Here are the reminders:
1.  Please think VERY carefully before sending a response to a posting,
wether you intend it for the whole list or if you want to send it only to
the person whose message you are responding to.  I think some of us may
have inadvertently been sending things meant for individuals to the whole
list.  If you use the "reply" function then your response will be going to
the whole list.  If you intend to send to one person only then you need to
go to the "To:       "  line and insert their e-mail address in place of
the list address.   (one very important reason to be aware of this is
because it can be very very embarrassing to accidentally send a candid
message meant for a close friend to 150 strangers!!  I saw an example on
another list just this morning).  On the other hand, it is an easy mistake
to make so we should all be forgiving if it happens occassionally.

2.  When you respond to someone else's comments please don't include their
whole message in your response.  It is better to delete everything except
the very few lines that you are directly responding to.  Also please delete
other people's signatures from your response.  Some people put in <snip> or
<other stuff deleted>  when they cut like this.   It can get tiring to have
to find the actual message amongst all of the old quoted stuff which has
been seen before.

3.  Try to make sure that the subject line at the top of the message
relates to your message when you respond on a particular topic. This makes
it easier for people who are suffering from information overload to skip
over topics that don't interest them.

Please don't feel bad if you feel any of these comments apply to you. Many
of us are new to these lists, so we are learning as we go.

Keep up the interesting discussions.

Paul

A. Rahman Paul Barter
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN)
c/- AP2000,  PO Box 12544,  50782 Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia.
Fax: +60 3 253 2361,  E-mail: tkpb at barter.pc.my