Posting Style - Trimming and Reformatting

Trimming and Reformatting

When replying to long discussions, particularly in newsgroup discussions, quoted text from the original message is often trimmed so as to leave only the parts that are relevant to the reply — or only a reminder thereof. This practice is sometimes called "trim-posting" or "edited posting", and is recommended by some manuals of posting etiquette.

Sometimes an indicator of deleted text is given, usually in the form of a square bracketed tag as: "", "", or simply "". The text that is retained may be edited to some extent, e.g. by re-folding the lines. For example, if the original message was

This is a reminder that the project meeting which was canceled last week will be held today in the 3rd floor conference room at 14:30 sharp. Everybody must attend. --Mary

the reply may be

> the project meeting will be held today in the 3rd floor > conference room Mary, be sure to check the mikes in that room. --Joe

or even just

> 3rd floor conference room Mary, be sure to check the mikes in that room --Joe

Deleted text may also be replaced by a summary in brackets:

On Thursday, Jim wrote: > The movie clearly adds a sense of menace to the story > which is not present in the original book. >
I disagree. The darker tone works well, once one understands the two are aimed at different audiences.

Automatically included text (such as signature blocks, free e-mail service ads, and corporate disclaimers) are more likely to be deleted, usually without ellipses, than manually written text. Some posters may delete any parts of the original message that they are not replying to. Some posters delete only parts dealing with issues that they see as "closed", and leave any parts that, in their opinion, deserve further discussion or will be replied to in a later message.