I wish you would stop doing that [sometimes stripping groups I don't follow].

I do that selectively. Sometimes it makes no sense to post to a group I
don't follow (such as asking a question), and sometimes it does makes
sense (such as to give information that was asked). In either case I
think it's courtious to say what I'm doing - if I make a comment in a
group I don't follow, I let them know that I won't receive followups
from that group (some newsreaders do not permit replies to more than one
group, some don't flag crossposts, some turn them into multple posts,
and it can otherwise seem like a drive-by posting when it isn't).

An ENTIRE thread doesn't always =remain= valid in multple groups due to
thread drift or other reasons.

Ironically, in this particular instance, you weren't even contributing
anything. You were asking for a clarification. Which means you have
artificially limited the audience to whom your question was posed, reducing
the chances of you getting an answer. If "nrp" saw this thread in
r.a.student, he'll never see your question, and won't answer it.

That is exactly the reason for stripping it. If I didn't strip it,
somebody might see the post in r.a.s and answer it there, and I won't
see the answer (at least if he posts from a lame newsreader). Now
-that- would be silly.

Sometimes I keep the group and advise I don't read it, sometimes I strip
it and advise I don't read it.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.