NavList:

Hewitt, You wrote:
"it's a long-standing habit of mine not to edit or alter other's prose or data. So answering above an original is what I naturally do. "

It's funny that you say you do this "naturally". There's nothing natural about it. It's the machine's default behavior. If you were writing an old-fashioned letter to someone, you certainly wouldn't feel compelled to make a photocopy of your correspondent's last letter to include with your current letter (unless perhaps it was a legal discussion), but that's just what most people do with email, and the majority do not even know how to turn off that default behavior.

You asked:
"I can see in some - perhaps many - cases, the original might be eliminated altogether. Is this what I should do from now on?"

You should not need to make any changes in your posts or posting style. I tried to come up with a "low impact" means of dealing with this "oddity" that would be require minimal effort on everyone's part. Just carry on as before.

-FER

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