With the contest season upon us and increasing participation in the
CQ-CONTEST group (over 200 subscribers), the amount of traffic on the
list has been high: 70 messages in the past two days. This can be
a problem for a lot of readers for a variety of reasons. With this
in mind, let me offer a few comments and a few suggestions that might
make your life a little easier.
Unlike PacketCluster, many people pay $$$ when they receive messages.
Some people pay per message, some per byte. Therefore, please take
this into consideration when writing a response; in other words, would
you pay $0.20 to read the message that you just wrote?
Eschew flamage. If someone sends a flame to the list, send flaming
replies directly back to the individual, not back to the list. No
one wants to pay $0.20 to read one of these messages (including the
initial flame).
Make sure there is something of value in each message you send to the
list. Avoid messages that are a complete reprint of someone else's
message, with nothing but "I agree" or "Me too" added to the bottom --
not much value there.
Some people pay by the byte, so when following up to someone else's
message, be sure to include only the essential pieces of thread of
note. Don't include those 20 extra header lines that your mail
gateway tacked onto the original message.
Send subscription requests, change of address requests, questions
about the administration of the list to CQ-CONTEST-REQUEST@TGV.COM,
*not* to CQ-CONTEST@TGV.COM. $0.20 is too much to pay to hear you
have a new hostname.
73.
--Trey
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