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  • 1.  "O that my words were written down! ...

    Posted 05-03-2000 03:40
    Care with the reply function, please.

    "They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights,
    and no one spoke a word to him,
    for they saw that his suffering was very great."

    Job 2:13


    The conversation on forced distribution is great. At least I'm interested.

    The promiscuous use of the reply function is not.

    ---> yes, I say PROMISCUOUS! <---

    How many times is one expected to read the same post in ever-repeating
    cycles where what we've seen comes around again and >again and >>again
    and >>>again yet >again while a new post adds a word or two of comments.

    And this does not account for the repeats, threepeats and fourpeats unmarked
    by added arrows because a new branch of the recurring cycle starts from the
    first post we read way back when.

    When I was but a child, I was taught that one can summarize a conversation,
    addressing main topics and points to make a reply. When I went to school,
    I learned to do this in writing. In college, we were taught that we had to do
    this eloquently and well to succeed. In business, even more so, emphasis
    SUCCINCT.

    In the brave new world of cyberspace, many of us have forgotten these
    basic rules of rhetoric and commnication. Thus it is that we look through a
    glass darkly, our vision obscured by the haze and fuzz of multiple renditions
    of quick notes read before.

    This is my vision of the inferno, or at least the circle reserved for list
    sinners.

    My vision of paradise?

    Say what you will, say it once, say it well.


    "O that my words were written down!
    O that they were inscribed in a book!
    O that with an iron pen and with lead
    they were engraved on a rock forever!"

    -- Job 19:23-24



    Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
    Department of Knowledge Management
    Norwegian School of Management

    +47 22.98.51.07 Direct line
    +47 22.98.51.11 Telefax

    Home office:

    +46 (46) 53.245 Telephone
    +46 (46) 53.345 Telefax

    email: ken.friedman@bi.no


  • 2.  "O that my words were written down! ...

    Posted 05-03-2000 09:45
    Ken is right; many of the postings have excessive trails of prior posts.
    IF you have the capability on your e-mail function, it makes sense to edit
    e-mail messages you answer to those portions necessary to convey what you
    are responding to. I've done this below, to indicate what I think is
    useful; we will all differ about how much should be included. [Not
    everyone has this capability, I believe.]

    While we're on that subject, I think it useful to include at least some of
    the comments we add at the beginning of the message, rather than at the
    end. That way, if we're familiar with the thread, we don't have to scroll
    through numerous screens to find out what new comments have been added

    Tim Edlund, Morgan State University

    On Wed, 3 May 2000, Ken Friedman wrote: [in part]

    > Care with the reply function, please.
    >
    > The promiscuous use of the reply function is not.
    Actually, it's saying yes to "Include prior message in Reply?" at
    least on the e-mail program I'm using.

    >
    > ---> yes, I say PROMISCUOUS! <---
    >
    > How many times is one expected to read the same post in ever-repeating
    > cycles where what we've seen comes around again and >again and >>again
    > and >>>again yet >again while a new post adds a word or two of comments.

    [Balance deleted.]