Yep, of course you're correct (and sending this email is not helping
matters).  It's just that this subject (message volume) has been hashed time
and time again.  The reality is that in this format, message volume is going
to surge from time to time.  And, there just isn't a good solution to that
problem at the moment.  What would be nice is a server side solution where
one could tune out certain threads.  Or, only get the first message in a
thread and ignore follow ups unless the user declares an interest in the
thread.

Also, taking subjects off-line has the unfortunate side effect of leaving
some who are interested, unable to participate and those discussions do not
get captured.

- Stephen

> Stephen Pair wrote:
> > [...]
> >
> > P.S.  With the size of today's hard drives and simple mail filtering, I
> > don't see why any discussion, no matter how long or detailed, should be
> > discouraged.
>
> Unfortunately, in Netscape there's an menu item and keyboard command for
> "ignore thread" but none for "delete all future items in thread." It's a
> constant effort in mailing lists and news groups to find a mutually
> acceptable bandwidth, and we should all be respectful of peoiple asking
> us to restrain ourselves or take certain subjects off-list.
>
> --
> stp
>
> Stephen Travis Pope | stp at create.ucsb.edu |
> http://www.create.ucsb.edu/~stp
>