Not intending to appear the strict disciplinarian, but... A recent but unfortunate feature of our new REEVES mailing list is the "replying to" or "quoting" of other's messages either preceeding or following your own intended message/post. The most insideous examples occur where one quotes an ENTIRE POST (3-6 paragraphs, mostly irrelevant to the thread's direction) made by someone else, then adds a brief 2-3 sentences afterward that says little more than "me too." We've not quite reached that extreme yet, but, in my judgement, we're getting there pretty fast! Too fast... It came to my attention today that while we've added about 16 subscribers since we began, we've also lost (for whatever reason) about 6. Sure, we're growing, but I wonder if some of those that have chosen to "unsubscribe" (some were veteran Internet genealogists) aren't doing so out of (partial) frustration? I may well be the worst culprit. Several times I've "Replied to all," edited out the irrelevant portions, and mailed the message (thinking: directly to one person) only to learn, aghast, that I'm "replying" not only to that individual, but to the entire REEVES-L list. At least I eliminated the irrelevant portions of the message I quoted. Still, I'm sorry... Clearly, an advantage to E-mail is the ability to reply. Methinks, however, the feature was built-into E-mail apps with limited use in mind. It can *very quickly* become annoying when used indiscriminately in newsgroup/mailing-list threads. So... Let's agree right now to at least "edit out" those irrelevant portions of a post we're replying to, okay? Besides saving "bandwidth," we're showing others who must pay for every minute they're on the 'Net the courtesy of respecting their time and money... 'Nuf said... Those natural "growing pains" aside, I think we're maturing rather gracefully, don't you'all? (And how can we re-attract those Internet veterans who once were subscribers and have so dang much to contribute?) Greg Reeves REEVES-L Listowner greg@rapidnet.com ------------------------------