On Mon, 7 Mar 1994, Karen Kroslowitz wrote:
 
> I'm with T.S. Davies.
> I hate all those "Me, too" answers filling up my mailbox.
 
> Please, gentle readers, *read* the original post  and address your replies
> accordingly.
> There have also been several cases when subscribers have gotten into a
> really great discussion about some interesting topic, and that's what this
> group is really here for, but the less clutter in a person's mailbox the
> better.
 
There is no reason to unnecessarily limit substantive postings to the
listserver.  The key is to apply a reasonable standard when deciding
whether your message is really meaningful for all 500+ members of this
listserv.  The members of two other listservs to which I subscribe (VRA-L and
ARLIS-L) have generally done an excellent job at self-moderating their
postings.   Each of us must do his/her part, which in some cases
means jotting down an author's email address and replying
directly to him/her.  Congratulate yourself for going to that extra
trouble; you have saved many people and systems from needlessly dealing
with your message.  (My emailer, "Pine," allows me to selectively reply to
either the originator or the listserv.)
 
If you are not convinced that this is more than a matter of minor nuisance,
please consider that in recent weeks several Internet routers reached the
saturation point--the traffic sent to them exceeded their capacity.
Email was bounced, delaying delivery, and additional connections
via ftp, gopher and telnet through these routers were denied.  The result
on us, the users, should be obvious.  Email administrators here at Duke
in the university libraries, and elsewhere, have had to limit the number of
messages that users can keep in their  email box in order to control wildly
increasing demands on their systems.  Leaving town for a few days can
result in rejection of important correspondence for active email users.
Having messages bumped because one might have a number of so-called "me
too" messages in a full-to-capacity email box can be more than a minor
nuisance.
 
I look forward to the continued high standard of messages on museum
issues I have found on this listserv.
 
  -Bill Broom  [log in to unmask]
   Department of Art and Art History
   Duke University