IMO, I think the best practice is to not send the original email back. Cut and past any specific passage to which you are specifically replying from a long post if you must, but otherwise just post. Most, or at least half of the people do this anyway, so you have to read individual posts to track a thread. The total size of the archive is probably about 40% or so returned posts. I may be more than that. Sometimes one post ends up have 5 or 6 posts strung together in it. Often threads are 80% old posts because of the returned posts and the particular people who are posting. With programs like gmail that will cluster posts - and all will in some way or another, there is no need to return the post to which you are replying. If the archives weren't so bloated from repetitive return of posts in threads, they could be searched much faster. Sam -- Sam Walters Baltimore, MD |
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