MDOC said:
Notice that I didn't bother to quote you, because I'm directly below you
in this thread.
You use quotes when replying to messages other than directly above
yours (which you did).
Sorry, that's wrong. *Many* newsgroup participants (myself included) don't
save already-read messages. There is no directly below me (or even directly
above me, which is where the previous message normally is), because all
previous messages in the thread are gone.
You *may* be responding to me, but I'm not even sure of that; it could be to
someone else. If you want your message to be understood by all of us, you
*always* need to quote enough of what you are replying to to put your reply
into context.
You may, of course, do whatever you want. There are no real rules, and
nobody can tell you what you *must* do. But if you don't adhere to generally
accepted standards of netiquette (and that includes *always* quoting), you
will substantially reduce your audience. If I notice someone who habitually
doesn't quote, I normally kill-file him, because his messages are almost
always meaningless to me.