SmartGroups/OT crimes/embedded quotes

[a_reader2003]

A series of questions and responses, based on some posts so far:

1. Pros & cons of SmartGroups and messageboards

I posted a long suggestion here about trying to bring order to the 
enormous backlist of posts, to enable people to search for things 
more efficiently (see post 11). I don't know very much about the 
technical side of hosting, so the alternatives being discussed here 
for HPfGU don't mean much to me. I wonder if someone could explain 
whether any one of these options would, in one fell swoop, improve 
the searching of back posts, and therefore make redundant the lengthy 
process which I suggested ? Or, if the list transferred to a new 
format, whether you would be simply left with all previous messages 
in the old style, and would still have to sort them out ?

I must say the current posting format really suits me - I read 
everything on line in plain text, accept no download emails, and more 
or less manage to keep up. I skim read most things, and just pay 
attention to those that catch my interest. I would hate to have to 
choose threads to follow - its so difficult to anticipate when 
someone will come up with a new idea that transforms a previously 
dull and predictable discussion. Also, as the series lengthens, and 
the themes become more complex, its inevitable that many posts will 
range back and forwards over the whole canon when dealing with a 
particular point. You could so easily miss the next great Theory of 
Everything !

2. Off-topic crimes

The only howlers I have ever received have been for this; one, 
amazingly, accusing me of enticing others to go off-topic, even 
though I had not myself !

I think this is the most confusing area of all the list rules. I see 
repeated examples of people going on and on about scenery, railway 
timetables, food, customs, boarding school rules, mythology, 
religion, political administration, you name it.. and its often quite 
interesting background stuff. I really don't know where the line in 
the sand is supposed to be. 

What makes me quite cross is being told to go to OT with a thread, 
because most of your fellow thread-followers are not reading the OT 
list and won't pick up what you want to say, short of you making an 
announcement on the main list .. which is OT in itself !

3. Embedded quotes

My reaction when I see << anywhere in a post is mentally to skim over 
the text and treat it all as a quote from a previous post, because of 
the similarity of << marks to inverted commas in normal written text. 
Personally, I would find it tiresome and annoying to try and follow 
through when there was one, two or three such marks to indicate 
different layers of embedding. I would much prefer simple named 
attribution as and when required.

It is also true I am not a huge user of message boards and discussion 
groups, so the net etiquette of this style is new to me, so apologies 
there. However, with the HPfGU insistence on good standards of 
written English, I think it is a mistake to try and mix the two types 
of style. I would stick to ordinary grammar and punctuation rules for 
quotations, which are hard enough for most people to remember as it 
is, and especially as many posters are working in English as a second 
language.

Carolyn