Efficient harp-l (was RE: Subject: [Harp-L] Gig Notices )

["Bill Hines" <billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

While we're on the topic of efficient use of harp-l, let me provide the
way I do it, which I greatly enjoy:

On my subscription I have the messages emailed to me. I have my email
client (you can do this with Outlook Express or probably any other
cheap/free email client that is probably already on your PC) send the
messages to a special folder called 'harp-l' when they come in. That way
they don't clutter up my inbox. So I have them segregated and read them
from that folder. This gives me an easier to read and more efficient way
to scan through them than the web-based digest interface - I have the
preview pane open so I can go through most of the messages quickly with
two keys - down arrow to get to the next message and 'Del' to delete the
ones I don't want to keep (although the few folks that append their
responses to the end of the post they are replying to rather than the
beginning cause some problems here due to having to scroll down to find
it in those cases, sometimes I don't bother depending on the subject,
poster, etc). So what I'm left with is what I consider to be the 'best'
of harp-l, treasures/nougats that I can always search and read even when
I'm not attached to the internet. In fact, this technique is handy also
for times when I want to quickly get all the new messages and don't have
time to read them, such as when I'm off to the airport in a rush. Then
when on the plane, I can go through all new messages at my leisure
without being connected to the net. 

So all of that is much faster than waiting for web pages to load, etc.
And I have my own always-available customized harp-l archive at the end.
I'm sure everyone has their own preferences attuned to their particular
situation and way of working, so that's just an idea for folks that want
to try it a different way. I'm sure some of our super computer geeks
like Garry can top it though!

Bill