North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mangodance <bmn@iglou.com>]

Jim Fruth wrote:
>     If everyone received posts in digest form, that would solve the problem.

Actually, that unfortunately wouldn't solve it.  It really does take 
individual responsibility when posting...regardless of the forum.  I 
moderate on several different formats and the archiving utilities are 
mechanical in nature...they just take what gets sent and bundle it up. 
It is death on archives...and usability.  What happens when we do not 
snip needless text out of replies is that replies get long...keeping 
entire threads in each message.  The bandwidth increases like a snowball 
with each reply.

What it does to archives is make them EXTREMELY bulky at best...and 
render them nearly useless in many cases.  When one does a search on the 
archive, one gets hits on each message...even when the thread takes a 
turn.  For instance, a note on blueberries may create a thread which 
migrates to apples.  Many people do not rename the subject when this 
happens so if a cultvar is named...and someone searches for said 
cultivar...or apples...they may get hundreds of items in their list that 
have nothing to do with said cultivar, apples, etc.  Add to that all the 
"me too", "congrats", "I agree", and similar messages and the archive 
grows exponentially and spirals beyond fixing.  What should take a few 
minutes to sort through may take days...and most people won't last that 
long.

Another thing to consider is that we have more than just the USA on the 
group and in many places people still pay for bandwidth.  Add to that, 
many members are in rural areas and on dialup...or shared satellite. 
Unneccessarily large message bodies impact these folks directly.