Well I have returned to the archive duties after my extended respite in Australia. My....Oh...My.... what have you all done to the archives?
1. Some have picked up the habit of quoting "Banned Words".
What are banned words?
Header information which includes the words To:, From:, Subject:, are reserved words and when not preceeded with some kind of quote character are interpreted by the archive program as the start of a new message. A few of you have a mail program that evidently puts:
--------Original Message----------
and then the full To:, From:, Subject: etc. That is only permissable if each line has some quote character like > for example.
2. In the replies to list messages, posted back to the list, just quote the sentence or paragraph of the original message.....not the whole DIGEST or message. We are a high volume list and just because you have unlimited phone calls and unlimited internet access....it is not so with our international members.
**** Our international members can be charged extra by their ISPs for excess downloads, in addition to being charged for each minute on line downloading someone's wordprocessing attachment.
The preferred method is to not use the attachment button on your mail program if what you are attaching is not saved in a PLAIN TEXT format.
In your mail program options check the box to put plain text attachments in the body of the message.
3. Excess message lengths are a problem with the archive program.
If you have sent anything to the list that exceeds 1,000 lines...it is probably not in my archive. Messages or attachments of over 1,000 lines cause my archive program to choke....and I have to manually remove them. Since June of 1997, there has been a 17 million byte increase in the archive....a lot of manual removal...when you were sending the pictures.
ARCHIVE SEARCHES
4. Because of the exponential growth of the archive (64 megs), search time is long (6 minutes) and the resulting file sizes are so large (A search for Mirapex returns a file of 1.5 meg), simple searches will not be available anymore.
If you are looking for something in particular, send me the details of what you are looking for. I can narrow the search. If you don't receive the message reply, you will have to assume that either your search parameters were too broad or I didn't have time to do your search.
Use http://james.parkinsons.org.uk for searching Simon Coles' archive.
I would like to restrict my activities to advanced searches.
CONCLUSION:
Just from looking at some of the list threads, I see that we still agree to disagree and as always the mail is lively. The Parkinsn List is not a democracy, it is a piece of property, owned by Barbara Patterson. She is our benefactor and her opinion is all that matters. The only vote that is taken here is with the feet. So be it, "Long Live the Queen"....:)
[log in to unmask] That man may last, but never lives,
Who much receives, but nothing gives;
HomeBoy #Parkinsons Whom none can love, whom none can thank,
Creation's blot, creation's blank.
John Cottingham Thomas Gibbons (1720-1785):
When Jesus dwelt.
