coral-list

Noah, Michael D POJ Michael.D.Noah at poj.usace.army.mil
Mon Aug 9 21:25:37 EDT 1999


			While I fully understand Bob's concern regarding the
"noise" that can often be generated from the posting of questions to the
list and the subsequent replies, I would just like to offer my $0.02 worth
with regards to changing the default "reply to" field.

			Due to a pretty wide range of interests (and my
remoteness out here in Japan), I subscribe to many of these discussion lists
(at last count, I have more than 50 being directed to their respective
folders), and I have found that those lists that have moved to using the
approach to replying that has been suggested usually fail to serve the needs
of the subscribers, primarily because 1) the original poster fails to either
"summarize" or adequately "summarize" the responses that s/he receives to
their post, despite their every honorable intention to do so at the time
they posed the question, and 2) since the "discussion" list is unable to see
the trend in the replies being provided in real time, the "discussion" list
is unable to generate that often-needed "discussion" (e.g., to engage in
what we subscribed to the list to participate in doing in the first place,
at least in my case)," and so the responses that are eventually received
tend to be less valuable to the poster than what would have been generated
had the subject or question been more openly "debated."  If the discussion
list does receive a summary from the original poster, but disagrees with or
wants to add something to the final results, the question/response/summary
process starts anew, only now with a new poster responsible for posting the
results that they receive, with the obvious extension in the time that it
takes for the participants on the list to reach a consensus.

			I would suggest instead that subscribers to the
list, first of all, refrain from changing the text of the subject field when
they post a reply.  Then, when the post is received, the recipient can then
sort the list by subject and date/time at the start of each day, and then
read the original post.  If they are uninterested in the subject of that
post, highlight and delete all of the subsequent responses with the same
subject field without bothering to read them.  This process works quite well
for me, anyway.

			Again, just my $0.02 worth...

			Mata ne,
			Michael

			 <<...>>
			US Army Corps
			of Engineers
			Japan District

			Michael D. Noah, Ecologist
			USAEDJ, Box 81 (CEPOJ-PP-E)
			APO AP   96338-5010

			011-81-311-763-5065
			011-81-311-763-8869 FAX


			Michael.Noah at poj.usace.army.mil
<mailto:Michael.Noah at poj.usace.army.mil>



				-----Original Message-----
				From:	rginsburg at rsmas.miami.edu
[mailto:rginsburg at rsmas.miami.edu]
				Sent:	Saturday, August 07, 1999 5:47 AM
				To:	Jim Hendee;
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
				Subject:	Re: coral-list

				Jim,

				I wonder if we could in some way avoid
having all the replies to a question
				posted on the List?  Could you suggest that
when someone raises a question
				or comment, that they become the reporter
and all replies and experessions
				of interest are directed to them instead of
to the entire list?  Then,
				after they have had some feedback, they
could post a  summary?  That way,
				all the rest of us need not receive every
comment and reply?  If you want
				to cite me as the proposer of this plan,
please do so.
				Bob





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