[Note:  This is posted every week or so.  If you have seen it already, it's
probably safe to just delete it - Ed.]

[Note:  This used to be the "How to quote with AOL message.
Unfortunately, AOL has stopped their newsgroup access, and are now
steering people towards the Google Groups reader. It then became "How to
quote with Google Groups", but it turns out their interface now behaves
properly and doesn't need special instructions.]

        -  DO snip out irrelevant portions of the post you are quoting.
It's not necessary for us to see the signature and headers from the
previous post (except for the attributions).  We also don't want to see 200
lines quoted simply for someone to add "Me too".  Don't go crazy here, we
still have to know what you're replying to!

        -  DO make sure your lines are kept under 80 characters per line
(and preferably, under 70-75 characters, to leave room for others to
quote).  If you don't, some people may have to "scroll" to see your posts.
AOL does not allow you to change the number of characters per line.

        -  DO respect proper signature guidelines.  The signature should be
preceded by a "-- " (that is two dashes, followed by *one* space) on a
blank line.  Following that, the signature normally shouldn't be over 4
lines.

        -  DO leave a blank line before and after the text you are quoting.
It makes it a lot easier to see when what you are quoting ends, and your
post begins.

        -  Please DO NOT top-post.  This is when you put your reply on top
of the replied-to text.  Most of us like to read from top to bottom.  If
you've followed the above guidelines, it should make sense!

NOTE FOR OUTLOOX EXPRESS USERS:  The software you are using makes it a bit
of a pain to observe the above guidelines.  By default, it puts the cursor
on top of the message, your signature below that, and then the quoted
message below that.  This really encourages top-posting.  Apparently, there
are also some wrapping issues with Outlook Express.

Fear not, for someone has created some software to solve these problems and
make Outlook Express more quote-friendly.  Go to

        http://home.in.tum.de/%7Ejain/software/oe-quotefix/

        And downloand OE-QuoteFix to solve most of these problems.