ADMIN: reply text, etc.

In the beginning days of this list, I posted rather frequent "reminders" on
these bits of list policy and etiquette, in order to help establish a
culture that I thought would be beneficial to us. More recently, I've taken
a back seat and let the culture maintain itself. And I think it's pretty
much done that; John and some others have taken up the role of making
occasional general reminders for the benefit of newcomers, and that seems
to be working well.

It seems, though, like there could be less time and space wasted on these
issues if more people would carefully read the welcome message (which
contains the list policies) from time to time.

Reply text should be limited to what is necessary to the establish the
context of your reply. Reposting five pages of someone else's letter just
to add one or two lines of your own at the end is wasteful and rude. I have
little sympathy for people who are too lazy to learn how to delete specific
sections of text in their mail program. It's one of the responsibilities
that comes with participation in internet discussion groups.

Subject lines, too, should be kept correct and should use the tags whenever
possible. Imagine the frustration of visiting a magazine rack to find that
the magazine covers seldom matched the contents. This is what is caused by
nonchalance in checking the subject line before you send.

There is no policy regarding repeating discussion that is in the archives.
I think it is fine that some subjects come up more than once. After all,
the people on the list change, as does the experiences they've had
gardening. The conversation may reveal different perspectives each time it
is picked up. Still, I hope everyone is *aware* of the archives and thinks
to use them as a resource, particularly when what is involved is some
factual question that is not likely to get a different answer the second
time around.

A final note: Although John's reposting of the subject tag list is quite
proper, I'd like to ask that in the future, the ADMIN tag be taken off such
postings, as I want to reserve it for my own use.

I think this list is doing just fine (I've participated in many internet
lists, and this is definitely one of the ones with "good" list culture). So
we can pat ourselves on the back, but shouldn't get too complacent. The
guidelines we've established are important and merit regular review from
all participants.

Cheers, Tom.


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Tom Tadfor Little                       telp@Rt66.com
Iris-L list owner  *  USDA zone 5/6  *  AIS region 23
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
Telperion Productions      http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iris-L web site  http://www.rt66.com/~telp/garden.htm
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