Keep it short

[Wendell Cochran]

> Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:57:52 -0500
> From: Steven Vollom <stevenvollom at sbcglobal.net>

> . . . do you mean when a post gets a lot of response back and forth,
> do you want me to erase the answered portions and only return
> current active questions and answers, or do you mean reword
what I say?


Don't rewrite.

Do keep readers in mind.

Review paragraph by paragraph, & line by line.  Sentence by sentence
is likely too much work, but if a paragraph trails off -- well, it's
easy to kill from the end.  Do that. 

Omit intervening conventions like 'Hi Jim' & 'Best wishes'.

Reduce repetition & useless detail.

Retain essential information.  Ask yourself: What does a new reader,
entering in mid-thread, need to know?  Will you force him to the
archives?  Will repetition bore the regulars? 

(That can be a grey area.  Make your best guess & move on.)

One post, one subject.

Subject lines, too, should be short & exact.  

If discussion drifts off topic, invoke '(was: . . .)'.

Bear in mind that economy of expression has always been important in
Unix.  Oh, Dennis Ritchie has said that he regretted reducing the name
of one command to 'creat' -- but that was as much a reminder as a
joke. 


Wendell Cochran
West Seattle