Tips About Mailing List Messages

Index
Humour or,... Short Forms Snipping Text About Posting News From Television Programs


Humour or,....

When I was first reading messages on the Contest Canada mailing list I noticed a bunch of messages, which when read initially appeared to be sour grapes.

However, when read with a sarcastic tone in my voice they sounded a lot more sensible.

Recently one more of these messages came up as a bunch of people were trying to solve a trivia contest. The contest question was challenging. It was tough. The group's answer ended up being incomplete.

One person wrote the following day when the winner was anounced that the woman who won (unknown to the group) should be "Spam'd" because "she was talking our prizes" At the close of the message were the three letters LOL. People new to the list took this as a mean spirited remark. (It was pretty much what I did in past.)

Well, the LOL is actually short for Laughing Out Loud. In all seriousness everyone working on the contest answer certainly believes that the prize was the winners. That woman earned it and we all wish her well.

The Sum:

The one thing I try to get across is that messages posted on the list should be read in the light most favourable to the author. Chances are that's how it's intended.


Short Forms

Periodically, Almost Daily you will encounter terms such as LOL, :),... Some of the more common are listed below.

:)
Happy Face!

:(
Sad Face!

LOL
Laughing Out Loud

ROTFLOL
Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud

OT
Off - Topic
This often appears in a subject line


Snipping Text

Many mailers are setup so as they quote / include a message's text when a user replies to a message.

When replying please remove the excess text. Sure Keep that which seems relevant,... but cut away the extra.

To most of us who read messages individually this may seem trivial. However, for the people who get the mailing list messages in Digest Format, i.e. all the messages lumped into one message,... it is a very big help. Trust Me


About Television Programs and Spoiler Space

As I write this there is another production of the popular Survivor program being broadcast once a week between 8 and 9 pm local time. There is also a game, and one with a mighty serious prize, concerning picking the winner before the final survivor is known to the world.

Well, in a helpful attempt recently one new member, living in the Eastern or Atlantic Time Zone announced who the winner was in message with format much as below:

To: ContestCanada@Egroups.Com
Subject: Survivor

XYZZY was kicked off.

Well, two others had announced, within seconds of each other the following

To: ContestCanada@Egroups.Com
Subject: Survivor

If you want to know who was kicked out of the tribe on Survior Tonight just read on.
35 lines of spoiler space follows.
1
2
3
4
5
6
.
.
.
32
33
34
35

XYZZY has left the stage.

The reason for the longer format isn't to make it easier to read,.. as it obviously is incrementally harder to read,... but rather because a number of list members living in timezones where the show hadn't yet been broadcast, and those who just had their VCR's set to record the program and view the tape later may want to learn of the result at time of their own choosing.

The longer format for this type of message let's these people make an educated decision regarding reading the balance of the message.

So, if you are going to post a sort of message that common sense tells us someone may care to delay reading,... please feel encouraged to post in the longer format. It makes life a lot easier on the list.


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