[Harp-L] ADMIN Please Read! Quoted text in replies to the list

[owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]

The trend in harp-l posts has been to over quote what is being replied to.
 This poses problems on several levels.

ALL posts to harp-l are archived.  We pay for storage, it is a limited
resource.  When we run out of disk space we have to buy more.  Slowly over
time the costs of maintaining  harp-l have increased.

Readability, one and two line replies with 15kb of quoted text are
difficult to read and oftentimes your meaning will be lost or misconstrued
or even worse people will just delete the post on sight because it's not
worth their trouble to wade through it.  If you want to effectively
communicate using the resource of harp-l please take the time and effort
to compose a readable post.

Pollution of the digest, this one really matters.  Verbosely quoted
posting renders the digest unreadable.  Be kind to your fellow
subscribers, edit your posts to include just enough of what you're
replying to  for context.  A couple of lines maximum of included text is
all that is needed..

Mail queue, every time a digest goes out harp-l slows down until the mail
queue clears.  while we do pay for bandwidth it's at a set rate for an
amount of data and we never go over our limits but bits and bytes are not
free.  All of these messages require energy to be transmitted, a lot of
energy.  Just because something is free is no reason to squander the
resource and really our bandwidth is not free, we just don't currently
have to pay extra for it.

Held posts, posts over a size threshold are held.  If you don't want your
posts held then post in plain text and do not over quote.  Delays of up to
24 hrs in the posting time frame can be the result of the size of your
post.  It's also work for me.  Every single held post is reviewed.  If the
posts are heavily formatted they're unreadable in my review screen and I'm
forced to forward the post to the owner's inbox just to read it.  5
minutes more or less per forwarded post.  I'm happy to do what's necessary
to maintain the list but please don't make work for me because you aren't
willing or able to edit a post carefully.

Process, product.  Edited posts are generally more well composed and
readable and they contribute to the overall quality of the list
environment and our archive.  I think they trend of poorly edited posts is
about people using smart phones and tablets to post.  It's tough to edit
on those devices.  They're all about immediacy.  Do the work, edit your
posts.  It's the polite thing to do.

Finally I'm going to excerpt part of the posting guidelines below.  This
section deals with trimming content and editing your posts.  This section
was written by Chris Pierce and Hugh Messenger.  It's about 20 yrs old. 
It still applies today.  Thanks for your time and attention,
harp-l-listowner


Cutting & Quoting -  Editing your Replies.

   Cut out the MAJORITY of included text when replying to another
   person's message.  We do NOT need to re-read every message that is
   replied to.  If you do not know how to do this, consult your local
   Computer Guru...then if all else fails, write owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
   for help.