[Coral-List] digest messages, and editing unrelated content

[Mike Jankulak]

Hello Listers!

A recent question to the moderators raised the issue of digest
frequency. As you may know, subscribers can opt to receive messages one
by one, or in a collected "digest" version sent less frequently (but at
least once per day, assuming non-zero traffic levels).

So the question was this: why are we sending out digests so frequently?
For example last Monday we sent out four digests in one day.

A big part of answering this question is knowing that digests are
triggered at noon (EST or EDT, depending on time of year) but they can
also be sent more frequently based on the number and size of messages
received and approved, and the timing of when they're approved.

Some of the recent uptick in the number of digests was prompted by the
inclusion of a large amount of quoted material, some of which was not
directly relevant to the discussion. The key problem is when digest
recipients want to follow up on some point but forget to edit out the
quoted material, which may contain multiple unrelated messages from
their digest. There is this friendly reminder at the top of each digest
message:

"When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Coral-List digest...", e.g., cut and paste the
Subject line from the individual message you are replying to. Also,
please only include quoted text from prior posts that is necessary to
make your point; avoid re-sending the entire Digest back to the list."

But people don't always remember to do this, so I thought I'd post a
friendly reminder. After I post this I may be a little more rigid about
rejecting unedited posts (i.e. sending them back for re-editing and
re-posting) until the problem is more clearly under control. I ask in
advance for your patience if this should happen to you.

Also I'd like to announce that I'm changing the size trigger on digest
posts from 50kb to 100kb, as another way of reducing the frequency that
digests are sent out. I don't expect this will impact many people but I
wanted everyone to be aware that digest posts may increase in size after
today.

Mike J+