Dear helpful, caring genealogy friends,
Many of you already do this, but . . .
I would like to ask that we take the time to clean up most of the forwarded
messages before just hitting the forward button, ESPECIALLY when forwarding
to a list that sends messages from an 'automatic server'. I'm certain
I'm
not the only one who finds it troublesome to wade thru' one-word lines, > or
> or >>> or >>>> at the beginning of every
line. I know we're all busy,
and occasionally I forget to do this, so I'm
reminding MYSELF, too, to do
this as often as possible. :-)
It is quite easy to use any word processor to eliminate this problem.
For you newer-to-computer folks, who may not realize how easy it is, here's
how to do it:
1) Get into the body of received message you wish to forward.
2) Do an "Edit / Select all / Copy.
3) Open your Word Processor (I use and like MSWord 97). I leave mine
open most of the time
4) When the new document appears, go to "Edit / Paste". Your message will
appear in total there, perhaps spread over the whole page.
5) Do an "Edit / Find / Replace" operation.
6) In the dialog box, under "Find what", put the carrot mark (>).
[I'm
sure WordPerfect has a similar option.]
7) Under "Replace with", leave it blank.
I like to then delete the empty space that may begin each line.
8) Close that dialog box, or search out other things you wish to replace in
order to 'clean up' the message further.
9) Do an "Edit / Select all / Cut".
10) Go back to the e-mail program, and "compose new message" or however
it's
worded in your program.
11) Do an "Edit / Paste".
VOILA! A cleaner, neater message! Now, if there are still one-word
lines, do a "Space / Delete" to bring the next line up to join the one-word
ones. That will bring everything to the left side, (especially if it's in
justify mode, as my word processor documents are set to do).
I also often do the following in my Word Processor:
While in the "Find what -- Replace with" mode, I will often FIND "Manual
Line Break" (which are those arrows that turn at a right angle at the end
of each line). I will tell it to replace all of those with a Paragraph
Mark.
Also, I have set up a Word 97 document file in "My Documents" called
_E-mail Send
with margins set to the e-mail line-width defaults -- .5" on left and
3.3" on right margin settings. The underline mark _ before "E-mail"
assures that it's the 1st listed file to open in "My Documents", thus
saving
more time than searching the alphabetized list ....
[BTW, It takes far, far more time to write and read these directions than
to DO them! ;-) ]
Another way to "clean" forwardings: before sending it on,
eliminate all the path info at the beginning of each message received. I
find it frustrating not to immediately see the beginning of the message.
Also, try to identify the _Surname, Time Frame, and location in the SUBJECT
line of each message sent on! This helps all of us more quickly get the
essence of your request
This would help all of us enjoy incoming messages more, read them faster,
and reduce the time spent on processing so many incoming messages when
accessing our e-mails! I had 23 yesterday, another day 46, and this
morning "only" 7 incoming messages. E-mail can easily dominate my life, and
I'm trying with all I know to shorten the time spent here. Much as I enjoy
you folks, I also do have other interests and relationships to maintain!
Not to mention "work."
Also, try to use a spell checker. If your e-mail program doesn't have one
(Outlook Express does have & can be set to do this automatically on all
out-going messages!), use the one in your word processor before writing new
messages. Write them in the Word Processor, then cut and paste to the
e-mail new message form. This avoids lots of typos, tho' it won't eliminate
"wrong word syndrome" since the spell-checker doesn't know the difference
between from and form. Both are good words, and I do plenty of typos that
interchange them. At the least, it makes for a mostly-neater message out
of my computer to all of you.
These suggestions will help us all, and please know I'm trying to help, not
criticize to be picky or nasty. Consideration of these things contribute to
the 'oil that lubricates human relationships', or as Miss Manners calls it,
Good Social Etiquette. ;-)
Thank you for wading thru' all this. [Yes I DO use abbreviations as often
as possible & still send a clear, concise message. I use them much less,
however, on widely disseminated messages.]
Blessings on you, AND
May we each take time to give thanks for this wonderful Nation's History
this weekend! With all the problems -- and they're tragically MYRIAD --
it's still the greatest place to live I know of on this earth, and I'm
eternally grateful that God allowed me to be born and live here in the
USA!
Thanks for your time and your helpfulness in all things,
Carleene Hubbard