On Thu, 10 Aug 2000, Michael W Zappe wrote:
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 09:50:48 -0400
>From: Michael W Zappe <zapman@interlan.net>
>To: Mike A. Harris <mharris@meteng.on.ca>
>Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
>Subject: Re: Definitions
>
>Mutt and emacs originally. Basla 0.8 after that.
>
>Maybe you guys should just go get a mail reader that
>can do word wrapping FOR YOU, since doing it myself is
>a royal pain in the ass since I ususally EDIT my emails
>before sending them. And have no trouble reading my
>own mail.
My mail reader has no trouble word wrapping messages for me.
The thing is that the line ends with a LF (or CRLF depending but
irrelevant). That indicates a line break. Therefore, if
someone's mail goes off the end of the line, most mailers, mine
included will wrap the text to the next line for viewing. This
makes the messages look like this:
a really really really really really really really really long line
that ends here
and a second really really really really really really really
line here
etc.. So when I read it, it is messy and difficult to
read. There is no problem whatsoever with my mail program. It
is displaying exactly what was written. Expecting everyone to
have a 300 column screen is insane. If I can't read your mail, I
do as many do, and delete it.
"Well your reader should word wrap it so that the lines aren't
jagged then"... What would happen then is that source code, and
everything would get word wrapped to 75 or 80 columns, and be a
big jumbled mess. Mailers can't distinguish between what should
be smart word wrapped and what not, and common convention is 72
columns max. If I'm not mistaken it is actually part of either
the SMTP or NNTP standards if not both. So YOUR mailer is
broken.
Regardless of WHAT is broken, I delete your long lined mail so
YOU LOSE.
>Pray tell, what is the "standard" linux mail setup? May
>I be enlightened to the holy levels that the ubergeeks
>on the list have achieved.
It has nothing to do with Linux. Read the RFC's and read
netiquette.txt attached. The only way for people to communicate
is by following a STANDARD. Wether it is an official standard
with a number assigned such as an RFC, a mailing list owner's
rules, or a defacto standard widely accepted in Internet
Etiquette, we need to have standards to communicate so that
everyone is on the same level.
If you can't function properly in this manner, I'm more than
happy to filter out your broken postings.
-- Mike A. Harris Linux advocate Computer Consultant GNU advocate Capslock Consulting Open Source advocateTry out Red Hat Linux today: http://www.redhat.com ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/redhat-6.2/
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