On topic or off, please have mercy on the subscribers to the digest version and trim the old stuff off the bottom of your reply. You can do this easily by putting the cursor at the start of the repeat and hitting CONTROL-SHIFT-END (which highlights to the bottom of the file) and then delet. Or you can reset the system's preferences to EXCLUDE previous messages. Or safest of all, put the listserve address in your addressbook with a short "xy" nickname and use compose instead of reply. The digest version puts the entirety of all messages into one or two emails a day. This reduces in-box clutter. (But it includes everything -- all the > and >> and >>> and >>>> chain of previous messages) So when you leave the trail of previous messages attached to your reply, we digest folk have to scroll through the whole train to get to the next message. Netiquette is to strip out all of the old messages except the occasional phrase needed to clarify what you are referring to. Usually a line or two suffices. As for the health and philosophy intrusions here, a little personal stuff occasionally is interesting, but the longer the insert, the greater the intrusion. This isn't Hyde Park ... there are better soapbox podia elsewhere. But much thanks to Dorothy Day for her telling -- and stunning --intervention. I'm a mere lurker, but on- or off-topic, I'd like to hear that level voice on this listserve often and for the longest possible time to come. Best Wishes, Ted Stannard ===== ___________________________________________________________________ R.E.Stannard Jr. em: stannard@xxxxxxxx or restannardjr@xxxxxxxx Femmy T. Stannard em: femmystannard@xxxxxxxx r: 712 Highland Dr, Bellingham, WA98225-6412, USA. ph:(360)392-0712 [prof. emeritus WESTERN WASHINGTON U, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO] =================================================================== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find a job, post your resume. http://careers.yahoo.com