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From: avi@pegasus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Article length  POLL results - replies to question 3 about Subject/Author influence
Message-ID: <718@pegasus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Nov-83 23:40:33 EST
Article-I.D.: pegasus.718
Posted: Wed Nov  2 23:40:33 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Nov-83 09:29:40 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft NJ
Lines: 70

Here are comments about my third question. Most people were influenced by
Subject and/or Author -- but it is hard to classify many as "yes" or "no".
As usual, some people did not really answer the question, which was:

3 - Does the Subject line or name of the author influence your decision?

    -	No, usually it is the first paragraph.
    -	subject/name influence: not really.  I'll read most anything.
    -	Of course, I do base my decision on the author; for example, I'm more
	willing to read an article by pmd because -- even though I disagree
	with him -- he's generally rational, and his responses are cogent,
	well-reasoned, and often researched.  Unc!tim, on the other hand....
    -	Yes.  For example, I long ago stopped reading articles from anyone
	about unc!tim's unorthodox philosophy, whose name I forget (but would
	recognize in a subject line)
    -	Yes.  The Mormonism debate went on for too long, though it was nice
	to be able to ignore big infrequent articles rather than wade through
	hundreds of tiny articles..
    -	Yes, these affect me, both positively and negatively.  If I am to read
	something >100 lines, however, the title/author had better be pretty
	impressive.
    -	Yes. There are some people whose articles I would read no matter how
	long they are. The Subject line is only interesting in that there are
	some things I am not interested in reading (in general) such as a long
	abortion debate. ...
	The author is more important than the Subject -- that is to say I would
	read an article by Tim Maroney even if it were about abortions.
    -	Always!
    -	Yes....I generally do not read articles longer than 150 lines. It
	depends on the subject of the article, though..If it is longer, I tend
	to dispose of it, but that is once again dependent upon the subject.
	Reiterating the above, subject yes. Author  no.
    -	Yes.  I will probably still read the article, but I am usually thinking
	what a {pretentious, pompous, insensitive, bigoted, narrowminded}
	person the author of the artcle is.
    -	I usually type N to articles if the subject line is a response to an
	issue I'm tired of.  Else I'll look at at least a screenful.  There
	are some people whose blatherings I find so attrociously dull that I
	will just type n no matter what.  On the other hand, I will always
	read certain authors.
    -	Yes.
    -	Yes.
    -	You betcha'.
    -	I will read any article of any length that is certified as being from a
	god, goddess, nymph, satyr or elemental. ( Articles from people who
	think that they are ( or that everybody is) a god might get read also,
	but then again they might not ). The important issue is that I must
	know in advance that the article is from a  deity before I will commit
	myself to reading it :-)  (  *-) this is a cyclops with a grin )
    -	Influences - title and author, ie, whether I think the note will be
	interesting and/or edifying.
    -	Sometimes for subject, rarely for author.
    -	YES!!  Of course it does.  Known flamers and messages which duplicate
	past discussion get short shrift.  Subject lines with 5 or more "re:"s
	in them are presumptively the latter.  Also, and VERY important for me,
	is the quality of the first 1-3 screenfulls of a long message.  If it
	doesn't wake up by then I conclude that it never will.
    -	I often skip articles about topics in which I have no interest.  I
	rarely skip article in net.religion, although I am often weeks behind
	in my reading.
    -	If the title is not really appealing, my cut-off is 17 lines, which
	means I can read the article and see the header for the next article.

Editors note: I don't have much to add, and this article is too long already.
I do look at the subject line carefully and have my favorites. I will read
anything with a trb suffix -- whether from floyd or masscomp. I stop reading
articles if the entire first screen is a series of Bible Quotes.
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
    suggested paths:	[ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi