>----------
>From:  juan abba[SMTP:juanabba@AX.APC.ORG]
>Sent:   den 30 april 1997 00:27
>To:    PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
>Subject:       test pls disregard
>
>test only, pls disregard

Now when newsgroups and mailing lists have all collapsed due to people's
low intelligens as well as imperfection (lack of features etc) built-in to
these types of forums, the only thing that can preserve the quality of the
postings, is sending more information about what the correct purpose of
each is. It is obvious that 80% of the people who are posting to PICLIST
don't know what types of messages belong in a mailing-list.

The purpose of a mailing list: to send...

1) new information regarding the mailing list subject
or...
2) important, difficult and intelligent questions regarding the mailing
list subject

...to those that want to receive such information, together with his normal
e-mail. A mailing list should generally have no more than a couple of
messages per day, at the most.

Who would want to receive his morning newspaper article by article in
hundreds of envelopes addressed to him personally? Especially when it's not
interesting articles, but more similar to  stupid letters to the editor or
something. NEWSGROUPS, not mailing lists, is the forum to use whenever it
can be suspected that the messages will not be enjoyed by more than 50% of
the list subscribers.

In newsgroups, the quality of the postings is in general even worse, but
there it doesn't matter that much, since the user gets a list of subjects
and can skip the messages he's not interested in, without fear of missing a
personal message to him directly.

Both in newsgroups and on mailing-lists (and in private e-mail), the
SUBJECT LINE should ALWAYS contain an abstract of the message, using 72
characters or less. ALWAYS update the subject when replying, and NEVER use
uninformative subjects like "Question", "Problem", "Info" or "PIC".
Instead, use describtive subjects like "New method for busting PIC16F84
Code Protection!", "How does code compression work?", "Wanted: info about
connecting PIC to pulse code modulated servo", "Will PIC16C84 price
increase? What about PIC16F84 price?", etc. SUBJECT isn't something boring
that you "have to" fill in - it's the very headline of the message itself,
and if the full message can be put there in it's 72 characters, the better.

The only other solution to improve the quality of the postings would be to
eliminate half of the population and feed smartdrugs to 90% of the
remainder, but that wouldn't be practically possible.

Another small thing which is very easy but which most people don't seem to
know - sentences should start with a capital and end with a dot. Especially
names.

Thank you very much,

Dr Elvis
SATELLITE HACK SERVICES