P3D Re: Rick Inzero comments on line lengths

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


>I agree with you that it's a problem, but it serves little or no purpose
>to make a generic complaint about it, because the people who are doing it
>generally have no idea that they are. If you were to send a message to
>each person whose postings cause problems for your reader, at least they
>would be aware that there's a problem they need to address. By doing so,
>you could perform a useful service for this list.
>
>John R (who hits <Enter> at the end of each line)


John (and everyone else :-)

I just recently switched from reading my e-mail primarily on UNIX systems using
the tried-and-true "Mail" program, to a brand-new WindowsNT box using completely
unfamiliar software (to me, at least).  I don't hit "enter" after every line,
but I HAVE seen my own messages on UNIX and know that this software (Outlook
Express, if you care) is properly line-wrapping my messages as I type them.
However, I am an expert, I make my living as a computer consultant and I know
what to look for and how to configure my software if it isn't doing what it
should.  I know there are lots of people who are not as fortunate.

Please follow John's advice, and personally e-mail anyone whose message has
formatting problems.  They are probably not even aware of it (because, if their
composition window wraps long lines, chances are their reader does, too, so they
do not see the problem themselves).  Remember, too, that while the 'net used to
be a UNIX domain (with newline-terminated lines only), it is now dominated by
Wintel boxes (with their MSDOS-descended CR-LF line ends), and the two do not
always (rarely? ever?) co-exist peacefully.

One final point: it is a mistake to assume that everyone is reading this list
using a fixed-width font!  I haven't seen many signatures containing stereopairs
anymore, but that's just as well, as with the variable-width font that this
software insists on using, I couldn't view them anyway (even if I wanted to,
which I don't).  Of course this also makes constructing ASCII "diagrams" a
challenge. :-(

     -Greg W. (gjw@xxxxxxxxxx)






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