But but but. I am a regular visitor here, but go through time periods during which I am too busy even to check in (especially since realistically I never stay for less than an hour, even when I *promise* myself just to check the headlines & sign right off again. So it's safest not to click the bookmark at all).

This meant that - in the days before "Tracers" - I _know _ of several replies that I almost missed, since they came in during times when I had been off-line for a week or two, & I almost didn't go back far enough to see them when I did return.

And it's the very speediness of the responses that can cause problems here! - in other words, when I post a request, I usually check for replies at least once a day for the next week, but if nothing has appeared, I may give up ... and miss a delayed reply if I don't happen to check in at the right time.

For members, "Tracers" has pretty well solved that problem. But new visitors & non-members don't have access to that resource. So an e-mail to notify that a reply has been posted, is most helpful to the occasional visitor.

On another point, it is definitely newsgroup etiquette to post one's e-mail address, to avoid cluttering up the whole group's mailboxes. New user may not realise that the opposite etiquette applies here, & be taken aback to discover that their attempts to be polite are in fact taken as rudeness. (an interesting cultural dilemma).

Lastly, another music group I subscribe to had a long discussion about copyright issues, which concluded that it was ok to reply to song requests as long as this was done privately, but that public replies to the group as a whole could be interpreted as a form a publication & therefore copyright infringement. And people who did post to the group as a whole, risked being flamed & roundly rebuked.

In my own view, I agree with Alan of Australia: post the reply here, & e-mail the requester to notify of the new posting.