From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5d56b695cd5b394d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-12-09 10:01:23 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!news.moneng.mei.com!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!noc.near.net!ray.com!news.ray.com!swlvx2!jgv From: jgv@swl.msd.ray.com (John Volan) Subject: Terseness Sender: news@swlvx2.msd.ray.com (NEWS USER) Organization: Raytheon Company, Tewksbury, MA Message-ID: References: <199412031821.LAA27900@hops.entertain.com> <3brgav$gu5@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> <3brkum$ljh@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> <3c7ieuINNgnt@marble.summit.novell.com> Date: Fri, 9 Dec 1994 16:52:27 GMT Date: 1994-12-09T16:52:27+00:00 List-Id: While I highly respect Robert Dewar, I disagree with Jonathan Schilling. (Nice and terse, right? Gets right to the point, doesn't it? But ... what in the world am I referring to? Hit a space now if you want to find out. ;-) jls@summit.novell.com (-mlc-+Schilling J.) writes: >I like the fact that Robert Dewar's posts are succinct and never quote >preceding posts. Even if this is forced upon him by his news software, >it's a blessed relief from the screenfulls of cascades you see all over >the rest of Usenet. I have to disagree with you here, Jonathan. When someone responds to a previous post, sometimes the response is hard to understand unless it happens to immediately follow the original, or unless it quotes at least part of the original. My news software seems to sort posts by time of arrival, not time of sending, and I frequently see a response *after* the original post. Depending on the transmission lags involved, the original may occasionally appear *days* after the response! Even if the posts do arrive in sending order, there may be a gap of several days between the original and the response, and I may have forgotten what the original post said. Or, if I let a few days go by without reading the news, the original may already be long gone and I may never see it at all! I feel that a reasonable amount of quoting is a polite courtesy that aids the reader's understanding. Of course, like anything, this can get out of hand if you take it to an extreme, but the opposite extreme of not quoting at all is, IMHO, just as bad. In Robert Dewar's case ... well, he's a very busy man, and the work he's doing is of such importance to the future of Ada, that I think we can all forgive him this slight indiscretion. :-) Frankly, I'm grateful that he can take the time to post to c.l.a at all! John Volan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Me : Person := (Name => "John Volan", -- Company => "Raytheon Missile Systems Division", -- E_Mail_Address => "jgv@swl.msd.ray.com", -- Affiliation => "Enthusiastic member of Team Ada!", -- Humorous_Disclaimer => "These opinions are undefined " & -- "by my employer and therefore " & -- "any use of them would be " & -- "totally erroneous."); --------------------------------------------------------------------------------