As a digest reader, I just did a quite useless job, in response to another digest reading member complaining of reckless quoting. I did a word count on a digest issue, and then deleted (approx.) everything that wasn't a new message or reply, it's header and new content. before: 18719 after culling: 4987 And yes I agree, it's worthless, unscientific, and just an unimportant bit of trivia, but... No further comment, and please don't bite my head off too hard! best, eric.