Tangled threads (was Just curious...)

[jjjjjuliep]

--- In HPFGU-Feedback at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley" 
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:

> Are you thinking of the long multiple-subject posts where a number 
> of unrelated topics are dealt with in a single post with a title 
> such as 'Farmer Hagrid; metathinking; Sinistra's gender; why I hate 
> OOP', or those which draw together a number of posts from a single 
> thread?
> 
> I like the latter, because they generally indicate that the poster 
> has taken a big-picture view of the entire thread and is trying to 
> advance the topic.  I find the multiple quotations helpful because 
> they mean I don't have to go back to other posts to check what 
views 
> are being addressed.


I like the latter too and I definitely concur with the directive to 
related consolidate posts.  That makes a lot of sense to me and it's 
SOP on a number of mailing lists I am on (on one of them we call 
them "omnibus posts" ;-) ).  I'm little bit less convinced personally 
about the idea of consolidating unrelated posts, but I also can 
understand the reasoning that it's better to have one good-sized post 
than a bunch of smaller ones.  

In either case, I would respectfully suggest that one of the things 
which would make the posts to the list easier to read (I'm on the 
digest, and currently about ~50 digest behind as I have been 
traveling a bit) would be if folks could be encouraged to use the ">" 
method whenever possible.  First, let me also say that I understand 
that many email packages don't allow for that kind of quoting, so it 
is not going to be universally possible.  But I would offer that it 
makes reading multi- or one-topic omnibus posts so much appealing and 
easier. 

This is just my personal preference, and I offer it humbly as such, 
but I find some like this:

--------------------------
HagridTheDragonDad said:

>text text text text text text text text text text text text
>text text text text text text text text text text text text
>text text text text text text text text text text text text
>text text text text text text text text text text text text
>text text text text text text text text text text text text

but I think that you'd definitely need at least a heat lamp to 
successfully care for a dragon egg.

Umbridge'sBridge wrote:

>more text more text more text more text more text more text
>more text more text more text more text more text more text
>more text more text more text more text more text more text

and I would add that I think Peeves just needs a good hug.

----------------------------------

easier to read than:

-----------------------
HagridTheDragonDad said:

<<text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text>>

but I think that you'd definitely need at least a heat lamp to 
successfully care for a dragon egg.

Umbridge'sBridge wrote:

<<more text more text more text more text more text more text
more text more text more text more text more text more text
more text more text more text more text more text more text>>

and I would add that I think Peeves just needs a good hug.
-------------------------

as for me and my eye it definitely sets off the "old" text from 
the "new" text and helps me engage with whatever the poster has to 
say.

Part of what works against things for me as well is the length of a 
lot of the consolidated posts, but at the same time you can't really 
put a limit on posts (I mean you can--the list I run has that 
feature, but that's mainly to make sure that if someone top posts on 
a digest that it won't come to the list.  The 7000 character limit 
for a post is known to the list members, and they compose long posts 
with that in mind, usually breaking them up into smaller chunks.  
What is interesting about this (and this is coming from someone who 
would rather read long posts for the most part) is that it has led 
list members to hone their thoughts a bit and to also, at least for 
the better writers, to introduce some dramatic tension into their 
broken up post).  But I'm merely digressing, not suggesting, in this 
case.

jujube