Re: list freezes

Converted from UTF-7, subject-line deuglified.

* Roger Mills said on 2002-01-16 01:40:59 +0100
> Just out of curiosity:  is it the *number* of messages, or their
> *total size* that constipates the list?
Number. Trust me on this. People simply don't have the time to read
it all. I don't think there's any *technological* limit to how much
mail the server or clients can handle, the problem is overload in
the *human*. Combining several posts in one mail wont help, that'll
just make it even more impossible to keep track of who said what as
an answer to foo.

Personal experience:
When I was in waaay over my had about a year ago, I spent more than
three hours a day wading through my mail (200-1200 a day not counting
logs), just *reading* it, maybe answering about 1%. December (2001)
I had to start doing something I've never before done with conlang,
skipping over messages entirely.

It's easier to handle lots and lots and lots and lots of mail if the
senders stick to some form of rules, and the *same* rules: Quote
the same way. Subjects the same way (*choosing* one of 'Re:', 'Re:    ',
'RE:'. 'Aw:', 'Answer:', 'SV:', 'Sv:' etc. so that you can see replies
at a glance). Using the same format (all text or all html for instance).
Not sending a one-line reply when it does nothing but prove the replier's
leetness. Knowing when to send to the entire list and when to send just
to the originator. Not sending almost-duplicate mail (preventing automatic
removal of duplicates) etc. etc. etc. Simply making it possible to let the
computer do the repetitive sorting and handling of the mail.

Since this is depending on human cooperation it'll happen when hell
freezes over. (Evil clients doesn't help either, but they had
uncooperative programmers/developers. So there.)

Take this mail for instance, it's completely redundant and I shouldn't
bother the list with it. It just states things "everyone" knows already,
right? Netiquette, right?

Nothing personal, Rog, just frustrated.


t., who's become a grumpy old fart, and hates it.