On Thu, 11 May 2017 13:43:52 -0400, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
wrote:
>... The point of quoting previous messages is not to replicate
>the entire thread in each message; we have archives for that. The point
>is to *briefly* remind readers what it is that you're responding to.
>If you can't be brief, you are disrespecting your readers by wasting their
>time. They've probably already read the earlier part of the thread anyway.
Search engines often land in the middle of a conversation. Quoted
material needs to establish sufficient context for the response to
make sense.
On many occasions, a search has landed me on some site where it was
difficult to navigate threads starting from the middle.
I know we're talking about Usenet here, and Google Groups isn't too
awful[*] when approached strictly as a Usenet archive ... but proper
posting etiquette applies to other discussion mediums as well.
>Personally, when I've scrolled down through a couple of pages of quoted
>and re-quoted text and see no sign of it ending any time soon, I tend
>to stop reading.
I agree 100%. But excessive brevity can make it so a reader can't
follow the conversation. Users of web forums often assume *you* can
easily look back up the thread because *they* can. In my experience,
it isn't always easy to do.
YMMV,
George
[*] where is a "gagging" emoji when you really need one?