Etiquette ~ Long Post

[Guest guest]

Quickie into... Being nearly 8 mos pregnant with twins and 18

months post RNY, I find that my very spare time these days is best

spent communicating on forums that better suit my situation.

Actually I'm an old timer to this group and daily read the digest

version even though I don't have much time to post. Those of us that

must rely on the digests to receive the posts find it difficult to

follow the course of current conversation when posts are left

unedited. Personally I have found recent conversations to be both

informative and enjoyable, what I have had trouble with is having to

scroll through pages and pages (one particular post contained 20+

Word pages of repeat messages) of the same posts.

Just a quick note to point out some on-line etiquette. Although YOU

may enjoy doing certain things on line, it does not necessarily mean

it is appropriate for cyber groups as a whole, therefore, it is most

appropriate to follow general manners (just as you would in a public

place vs your own home) when in a public forum. I know there are

things I do in my own home I might FANTASIZE about doing in public,

but never would, lol.

1. Delete information that has already been repeated. Leaving the

previous post (or better yet, parts of the post that you are

directly responding to), and deleting all other " stuff " that follows

like ads, disclaimers, old conversations, will take care of a lot of

those unnecessary repeats and still let the readers know what you

are responding to.

2. If the conversation takes another path, you should ALWAYS, change

the subject line so that those who may not be interested in personal

conversations and/or certain subject matter can opt to skip over

that thread.

3. Flaming is never appropriate. Just because someone doesn't

understand the " rules " or doesn't appreciate the direction of

conversation or likes to communicate in a different manner, is no

reason to be rude. We don't know each other personally and are all

aware that emotions can not be felt electronically. It is always

best to have your say in a respectful manner and if the conversation

turns nasty and you personally want to continue throwing insults,

take it off the public forum so others that are here for actual

support are not forced to be involved.

Ok... so I got in my daily practice of reminding my kids about using

their manners, I'm sure it will come in handy.

I hope I was able to say what I wanted without offending anyone. I

do care about this group and hope that all of you, pre and post op

are finding the information and support you need. Its quite a

journey we're all on and we really do need each other.

Toi