🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wednesday, in article <Ig$bdZArOYxwEACz@turnpike.com>
     richard@turnpike.com "Richard Clayton" wrote:

RC> In article <818118642snz@wash.demon.co.uk>, John Washington
RC> <john@wash.demon.co.uk> writes
RC> 
RC> >On Sunday, in article <818020214snz@lloyney.demon.co.uk>
RC> >     rob@lloyney.demon.co.followup-to "Rob Coles" wrote:
RC> >
         [re quoting initials of poster]
..
RC> >And, warning, some people don't like the way I push
RC> >quotes more quickly off the screen.
RC> 
RC> and some people don't think they're appropriate for Usenet where almost
RC> no clients support them :(  The FIDO readers which support them rely on
RC> seeing leading spaces on the lines involved so as to avoid double
RC> quoting, but this leads to other difficulties when there are spaces at
RC> the start of lines for other reasons.  see news.software.readers passim.

See what I mean, guys?  There's always someone who doesn't
like the way the meal is served.

I didn't invent this idea, I'd seen it a good bit on
posts by other newsreaders in international Usenet groups.
I thought it not only <ahem> cool, but of some utility
when reading deeply nested quotes.  I mailed people to
find out how they did it.  The usual answer was a tricky
editor macro.

However, just because someone on Usenet does something,
that certainly doesn't make it welcome/legal/RFC-compliant/etc.
If you can quote something from a document that strongly
discourages it (e.g. the kind of comments that netiquette
guides make about 4+ line .sigs) I'll chew on it.

Client support?  What's that about?  I just find these
quotes visually helpful.  And what does FIDO have to do
with this?  Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree but
I get a feeling, Richard, that you have an emotional
dislike of this style and you're scratching around for
evidence to support your initial gut reaction.

Frankly, when I mentioned "some people" not liking this,
I was being euphemistic.  You're the ONLY person who's
ever told me they don't like it.  And plenty of others
have said they do.

RC> 
RC> >--
RC> >John Washington
RC> 
RC> the space on your "-- " has been eaten by something :(

Yes, the editor I use.  It has many other advantages that
compensate.  Just think of my posts as having no .sig, but
their bodies ending in a couple of dashes and my name.

Do you have a problem with that?

I have considered fixing it by amending Snews to search
backwards from the end of my posts for a "--" within the
last 4 lines, but it's not come high enough up my wish
list yet.  Besides, since I often review outgoing mail
later, some would get eaten again.  I've also considered
a simple utility to scan mail before connecting, but I'm
reluctant to have the additional delay (as well as the
additional effort programming it).  However, if you can
explain to me why it's so important, of course I can
review my priorities.

Why do I get the feeling your post is neither positive nor
constructive?  Too much motorcycle maintenance and not
enough Zen, perhaps?  Drive carefully out there.

--
John Washington