Date:  Thu, 6 Oct 1994 11:59:40 -0400

From:  Undetermined origin c/o Postmaster <POSTMASTER[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET>

Subject: <No subject given>



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Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 09:33:02 -700 (MDT)

From: Warren Keith Russell <wkr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cpu.us.dynix.com>

Subject: Re: replying to individuals

To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.cc.uga.edu>

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On Thu, 6 Oct 1994, Natalie Maynor wrote:



> > > I've been wondering. On other lists I'm on, it's customary to reply to

> > > individuals for some topics; here, messages addressed to individuals

> > > keep getting forwarded to the whole list (eg, about a dozen replies to

> > > Luanne v.m.'s request for assistance/informants

> > > . Is this customary? or are people just unaware of it?

>

> You must be on some unusual lists. This list seems fairly typical to me

> in that some people do reply to the individual (e.g., I replied to Luanne

> directly, as I'm sure many other people did) and some people reply to the

> whole list because they don't notice the 'reply-to' line in the headers

> and think they're replying to the individual, or they realize that this

> is a low-traffic list and that most of us don't mind seeing their replies,

> or they're too lazy to readdress.

>

I have seen this "rule" most often implemented in Usenet newsgroups,

where messages/articles are stored for a period of time on the server, and

individual messages have a real tendency to clog things up. Once the

original poster has had her question answered, she cannot simply delete

the message, as she can with a mailing-list message.



In Usenet group, private postings to the groups can generate an amazing

number of flames.



***********************************************************************

Keith Russell          Personal Messages: KeithR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]infonaut.com

wkr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]us.dynix.com                  MagicSpelr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com