Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/05

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Column width of messages
From: Jeff Moore <jbm@oven.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 13:58:39 -0500
References: <200112032252.RAA15618@tigercat.nyfir.pwj.com> <LPBBJMBJAOBBBNDIFCEFIELCCHAA.dford@san.rr.com>

2001-12-03-21:17:08 Doug Ford:
> wrong.

Right back atcha.  I respectfully disagree.  This notion of sending
each paragraph as an arbitrarily-long line, and only putting newlines
(there's a reason they're called newlines, Bucky!) in where there are
breaks between blocks of text, is a newfangled one, and not the
authoritative convention for text-based email.  It's another of those
degenerate practices, like quoting entire previous messages at the end
of your email instead of interleaving just the bits you're responding
to set off with an appropriate quote prefix like '>', which seem to be
gaining currency among those who haven't been properly socialized to
email, especially Microsoft users.  I think it has its genesis in
word-processor practices, and has seeped into email.  I've been
disappointed to note that even our revered listadmin (how he became
corrupted in this way I don't know) sends mail with these unwrapped
lines, but I hadn't thought it necessary until now to offer a
correction.

I note with interest but no surprise that the people in this thread
who advocate unwrapped text use Windows-based email clients.  Yes,
even Brian.  Sigh.

I can live with that, though;  I can read unwrapped text acceptably if
I have to.  The most egregious of these sins, to me, is the quoting
thing.

When you quote the entire message you're responding to at the end of a
message, maybe with a little line of dashes above it, you're not just
wasting bandwidth and archive space;  you're not just creating visual
clutter;  you're implicitly telling your recipients that you're just
too busy (or something) to show them the respect of putting in the
work of selecting the parts of the previous thread you're responding
to, supplying concise attributions, and interleaving just the text
you're responding to (set off as quoted) so as to make it easy for the
reader to know just what's going on.  It just seems lazy and
disrespectful to me.

[Here Endeth the Old Crank's Email Manners Diatribe.]
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In reply to: Message from Rei Shinozuka <shino@ubspw.com> (Re: [Leica] Column width of messages)
Message from "Doug Ford" <dford@san.rr.com> (RE: [Leica] Column width of messages)