On Thu, 1 May 1997, Glenn Johansson wrote:

> >----------
> >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
>
BLAH BLAH BLAH
  SHOULDN'T KNOCK OTHER PEOPLES "INTELLIGENS" AS YOU PUT IT WHEN YOU
YOURSELF DON'T HAVE A GOOD GRASP ON SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION.
       KIND REGARDS.IAN