How to Edit: You can win friends and influence people by learning to edit your email replies to make them more readable and shorter. This stuff's easy to do, so don't just read it - try it! If you can't figure it out, ask for help on the list. Once you've done it, you'll be surprised at how easy it is, and will get raves and pleas for instruction on your cool technique. Here are the simple secrets Email pros have evolved to edit replies for impact and brevity:

1. Quote the original. Most email software will automatically duplicate the entire message you're replying to, at the bottom of your reply. Usually each line will begin with a ">" character to indicate that it's a "quote" of what was said in the message you're replying to. An alternative scheme used by AOL and some other software is to place several ">>>" characters or some other indication at the beginning and end of the entire block of "quoted" text. Either of these schemes is nice because it provides context for your reply and saves you having to retype it. The bad news is if you don't edit it, your reply can be extremely long and difficult to understand.
2. Highlight and delete all of the original message except the part you're specifically replying to. The most common way to do this is simply clicking your mouse at the top of your reply and holding the button down. As you read the "quoted" original message, drag your mouse along to select (highlight) what you're reading and not responding to. When you get to a part that you'd like to type in a reply to, release the mouse button and hit the Enter or Return key. That will delete all the highlighted text and put you at the start of a line.
3. Make sure the "quoted" text has a ">" character at the start of the line, typing one in if need be. Click the mouse at the end of the part you're replying to and hit the Enter or Return key twice to start a new line.
4. Type in your response to the "quoted" excerpt from the original message you're replying to. At the end of your response, hit Enter or Return twice and type another ">" character to indicate you're "quoting" the original message again.
   Note: in a reply to a reply, you might have "quoted quotes" where you're responding to something someone said previously. Example:
       >>I think my class of 66 was the best of all time.
       >That's because you're too young to know my class of 60.
       You geezers both missed my great class of 72!
5. Repeat as above until you're done "quoting" the original and responding, deleting all of the original you're NOT responding to. Then type in anything else you want to say. Your resulting reply will have short "quotes" followed by your responses, making it much more easily understood than if it contained no "quotes" or included the entire previous message unedited.
6. Enjoy the praise and admiration from everyone who benefits from your short, concise messages. If you don't fully understand these directions, study John's replies to the list to see what edited replies look like, and if you still need help ask on the list or send him a message.
   Note - some messages have "emoticons" that look like this   :-)   and in case you haven't seen something like that before, it's a "smiley face" (tilt your head 90 degrees to the left and you'll see it has eyes, nose and a smiling mouth).