CompuServe Messages

RE: " Actually it's usually the reader who will not remember what is being responded to. " I'll second that. While some will whine who do understand, some of those who whine about quoting just do not understand–for 2 main reasons. One is that they themselves log on multiple times a day and thus do not lose place in the discussions they are active in. The other is that some individuals are just simply blessed with razor sharp memories. Since we are talking about open forum discussions, we should treat them as such, IMO. I mean, if we were gathered into a discussion circle in a public area with participants dropping in and out, the need to rehash would not be especially necessary except when a new person dropped in. Unlike time-delayed electronic communications where it is impossible to know when newcomers drop in, physical groupings do know when newcomers arrive. Now, in a physical group as mentioned above, the group as a whole could simply refuse to brief newcomers or not. Sometimes I think it is appropriate not to brief newcomers or stragglers, but in most instances I think it is rude. That being said, there is reason to believe quoters are more politely orientated, and folks who place