On Tue, 6 Apr 2004, Christine Quiriy wrote:
> Subscribers not trimming prior text has got to be my touchiest hot
> button. It drives me crazy.

Maybe I'm touchier about it than you are, because I would have tagged your
message as having quoted more than was necessary for context.  ^_^

My rules about overquoting are posted on the web page for the rules of the
mailing list, and appear in a rotating bottom banner once day every four.
Subscribers are asked to abide by the list's policies (a URL to which is
given in the WELCOME template), including the one about overquoting.


[quoted out of sequence]
> and sometimes consider setting their subscriptions to review, though I
> have never done it.

All of my new subscribers default to REVIEW.  Makes catching this easier
than cleaning up for it afterwards.


> I periodically rant at the most egregious offenders

When a subscriber overquotes, I reply directly to the subscriber, not the
list because subscribers get very defensive and chew me out if I publicly
humiliate them.  The reply contains a form letter that describes how they
overquoted.  Here is a snippet from that boilerplate:

------------------------------------
  Dear x,

    You are being sent this warning because your message (either
  a post already sent to the list or a message submitted for
  posting):

  * quoted more than was minimally necessary to establish context
  * quoted most, if not all, of the message you were replying to
  * quoted more text than you wrote in reply to it
  * quoted the list's automatically generated footer

  Please quote only the minimum necessary to establish context for your
  reply.  Overquoting might result in the restriction or cancellation of
  your subscription.  This might be your only warning.

  If your message was not approved for posting, it is enclosed below for
  your convenience so that you can revise it and resend it.  If your
  message was already distributed to other subscribers, then we hope
  that you will consider changing the way that you quote messages when
  you reply to them in the future.
------------------------------------

I delete the bulleted list items that don't apply.

"This might be your only warning" gives me the choice of how many times I
will warn someone before taking more severe action (e.g. NOPOST,
unsubscribing, or ignoring their submission without reply).


--
Michael