Anyone who disagrees or doesn't understand about the need for trimming old replies should refer to the welcome email. The subject is "Official welcome to the new SharedWeight." Seth Seeger & Chris Weiler worked hard on this project; don't you think they thought of the best way to do things? In that email it clearly states:

*   IMPORTANT: When you respond to a post on the list, please remember to trim off old replies.  It will make it much easier for others to use our list, especially those that receive the digest version.  

I'd recommend re-reading it for other handy info as well.

I don't use email for work so I've had to learn certain things about gmail and other google applications through trial and error; can anyone tell me for google if the 3 dots are at the bottom of my draft, does that mean all the previous replies will be visible once I send the email? What I did is expand the dots to show the previous replies, then select all and delete.

I believe the listserv is superior to Facebook because it's more inclusive and more easily searchable. People tend to stay on topic better on the email, as well.