Proper PM Etiquette

Recently, I was given a scolding by a wonderful provider(whom i've never met and dont want to be accused of "threwing a low blow") for deleting previous pm messages so that new ones are easier to read. I wasn't aware this was a cardinal sin and would love from experience providers or hobbyists to give some advices to some of us newbs who are unaware of the unwritten codes. FYI, I have looked up what i can find but never hurts to ask people who have more knowledge than I have.

You can only keep 50 messages in your box, unless you have premium access (then it's 20 times more). That's 1,000 for those who slept through math classes. Sure you can save your messages as two big text files (inbox and outbox as separate files), even then you will need to delete those messages if you get 50 or 1,000 messages (whichever is maximum). Have fun.

Recently, I was given a scolding by a wonderful provider(whom i've never met and dont want to be accused of "threwing a low blow") for deleting previous pm messages so that new ones are easier to read. I wasn't aware this was a cardinal sin and would love from experience providers or hobbyists to give some advices to some of us newbs who are unaware of the unwritten codes. FYI, I have looked up what i can find but never hurts to ask people who have more knowledge than I have. Originally Posted by jwin

Oh, fer Chrissakes...

Whether and when you trash the PMs in your box is your business and nobody else's.

For what it's worth I've several times emptied my archived PMs, just because I can (and because I'd run out of space). If anyone wants to scold me for that... well, you know how to find me.



Cheers,

bcg

... for deleting previous pm messages so that new ones are easier to read... Originally Posted by jwin

Hey guys, I think jwin is asking about the nested quotes of prior PMs when replying, since the nesting takes so much space if prior PMs are lengthy.

IF that is his actual question, my reply would be: Only eliminate prior PM quotes if the content is immaterial to the current message, but where the message track would be beneficial to the recipient, then include the prior PM nested quotations in your PM so the reader can understand the sequence of dialog and simultaneously eliminate any risk of mis-quoting someone.

If I have not understood jwin's question, then perhaps a clarification from the OP would be beneficial here.

I think Ufriend has understood the question, and I agree with his answer.

JaG

One thing I see that many people don't appear to be aware of, which makes PM replies easier to read is to - always put your reply at the Top of the PM chain. It's as simple as putting your cursor at the top before you start typing, but it makes a big difference in readability if you've been going back and forth a lot (and don't want to delete the prior material). If you do that, it's easy to read and the full conversation is still there if you need to reread something.

Personally, I like the prior conversation left in there, but maybe that's because my memory is bad and I might not remember what we were talking about last week - LOL!

One thing I see that many people don't appear to be aware of, which makes PM replies easier to read is to - always put your reply at the Top of the PM chain. It's as simple as putting your cursor at the top before you start typing, but it makes a big difference in readability if you've been going back and forth a lot (and don't want to delete the prior material). If you do that, it's easy to read and the full conversation is still there if you need to reread something.

Personally, I like the prior conversation left in there, but maybe that's because my memory is bad and I might not remember what we were talking about last week - LOL! Originally Posted by vicinms

+1

adding: I'd add common courtesy will go a long way. If she's anywhere near normal in the head (that's most everyone here). Any exceptions to this general rule I'll communicate via PM (for me, there's no place where the public, even only others with PA, where I'd place it).

We pay these ladies for time, but they risk more in many ways. Being courteous (hell, use spell-check too), goes a long way.

My $1/50,
-- SFC

PS: I ain't hating or criticizing anyone else's choices. There are people who'd shout that [insert provider whom he/she has reasons to dislike or to think insane] isn't worth seeing.

Hot dayum. I always answered on the top & wondered if I was wrong whenever I'd see people answer on the bottom.

'Course, I never asked nor changed.

As for deleting the previous...I don't book "off the boards". But to a degree - if she's screening your board handle (as opposed to you yourself which is pretty frackin stoopid IMHO - <3 u 2 JAG am I starting shit? do i get a spanking?) then I can see needing the priors to remind her what was & wasn't said (as opposed to using actual memory which, as established prior, she'd be unable to do anyways -hi JAG! miss me?)

I also answer at the top, although I'm not put off when someone answers at the bottom. What annoys the hell out of me is when someone answers in the middle of a previous reply - it's hard to sort out the answer from the previous reply.

I also agree with vicinms - I leave the previous replies in the thread to remind me of previous conversations. If the conversation takes a new track, I might delete the earlier thoughts.

Babee, of course I miss you!

JaG

I also answer at the top, although I'm not put off when someone answers at the bottom. Originally Posted by JustaGuyinMS

I answer the same way the other person does. If they answer at the top then I answer at the top. If they answer at the bottom, I answer at the bottom.

What annoys the hell out of me is when someone answers in the middle of a previous reply - it's hard to sort out the answer from the previous reply. Originally Posted by JustaGuyinMS

+1

Incredibly hard to figure those out sometimes.

Hot dayum. I always answered on the top Originally Posted by babee

A convention often called "top posting" by us geeks. And answering at the bottom is called "bottom posting" (big surprise, right?).

And I, for one, am an unregenerate bottom poster.

& wondered if I was wrong whenever I'd see people answer on the bottom.

'Course, I never asked nor changed. Originally Posted by babee

Whether one prefers top posting or not depends to a large degree on the email client you started using when you first got email.

A lot of us unregenerate bottom posters have been on the 'net now for a decade or more, and got our start on UNIX systems using a plain text email client like elm or pine.* In those prehistoric days (back when we geeks would hunt apatosaurus to grill for all the clan rituals), our plain text systems put all the quoted material at the top of the screen, and started you off at the bottom. This is how God intended email to be, and any other developments have been Very Bad Things, indeed.

Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, AFAIK, were the first email clients to make top posting the default. And introduced automatic script execution, automatic opening of file attachments, rich text and HTML email, and just about every other curse that's afflicted email since their introduction. But hey... "progress: there's no stopping it", right?

I used to rail against all this, but I realize I've lost the battle. I just bottom post, and do what I can to make my emails/PMs reasonably clear, and try not to act too condescending** to those of you who have probably never experienced how God meant email to be.

Cheers,

bcg

* Actually, I got my start on an IBM mainframe using an IBM 3720 green screen monochrome (dumb) terminal, but the email client on that system worked under the same conventions as pine. And since then I have plenty of experience using pine and elm on Linux.

** "If you have trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it's done." --Scott Adams

Vicinms you are sooo correct in explaining how it makes it soooo much more easier to view over the chain of messsages and nothing is left out or missunderstood.. wooo hooooo
Plus, it will help you out in the long run if a provider sets an appointment up with YOU or something is in question. The messages goes a long way in HELPING people out.
I would think that erasing an on-going continuous message is odd and would make me think the person is hiding something. just saying.

Man, bluff uses big words... Please, raise your hand high if you have ever heard or seen the word, "unregenerate" before. I guess I watch too much Sci-Fi, I thought he was losing his Time Lord abilities or something...

Man, bluff uses big words... Originally Posted by stanky

Yep. It encourages the riff-raff to keep their distance.

Please, raise your hand high if you have ever heard or seen the word, "unregenerate" before. I guess I watch too much Sci-Fi, I thought he was losing his Time Lord abilities or something... Originally Posted by stanky

You just may enjoy this then:

http://unholyoffice.blogspot.com/201...vs-dr-who.html

"But Jesus came back from the dead!"
"Pfeh. When he comes back eight more times he can talk to me."



Cheers,

bcg (that cartoon dates from 2007; since then The Doctor's come back from the dead two more times...)

I've heard the term unregenerate before...