[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] upgrading disk without reinstalling anything

[Russ Johnson]

Jeme A Brelin wrote:

>On Mon, 29 Mar 2004, Russ Johnson wrote:
>  
>
>>Paul Johnson wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Please turn your line wraps on to about 72 columns.
>>>      
>>>
>>Why anyone uses a MUA that doesn't support rewrapping of email is beyond
>>me.
>>    
>>
>
>I don't think you understand the problem.  Rewrapping only works if the
>sending MUA doesn't include any linefeeds of its own.
>  
>
Not true. It's easy to remove line feeds too.

Paragraphs are simply watching for double linefeeds and/or 
linefeed/indentation pairs. It's not rocket science.

And I think I understand the problem well. i.e Why should MY choice of 
formatting affect YOUR reading of my message. (It shouldn't.)

>Very long lines within a paragraph are just fine.  Most everyone's MUA is
>going to wrap the long lines on reading.  But linefeeds WITHIN a paragraph
>(say, every 85 characters) are going to cause lines to wrap oddly in the
>reader's MUA.
>  
>
So don't use their line feeds.

>>I don't understand why anyone would use a broken MUA that can't re-wrap
>>an incoming message to fit the current screen width.
>>    
>>
>
>You don't WANT an MUA that strips linefeeds from incoming mail.  Those
>linefeeds could be important for the formatting.
>  
>
Yes, and it's usually apparrent when they are used for formatting as well.

The reason we don't use ASCII art anymore is because we also use 
proportional fonts. So lets move on.

>What you suggest is that the reader's MUA strip linefeeds within a
>paragraph and insert new ones at 80 cols.  It doesn't take much
>imagination to see what that would do to purposely formatted text
>(concrete poetry, charts, ascii art diagrams, etc.).
>  
>
No, what I suggest is a little intelligence.

Obviously it's possible to do, since there are programs out there that 
do it.

>>Sometimes, I'm using an 80 column terminal. Sometimes, I'm using a GUI
>>MUA, and sometimes, I use a terminal that's 132 columns or wider. In all
>>cases, there are excellent MUAs that will re-wrap the inbound mail to my
>>screen.
>>    
>>
>
>Your MUAs strip linefeeds from incoming mail?
>  
>
No, my MUA intelligently formats things, depending on how I happen to 
have the window at the moment.

>>Trying to force the emailing masses to set a margin is like pissing into
>>the wind. You end up all wet. I have more important things to worry
>>about, and the format of my email on your screen is of little concern.
>>This is a choice YOU make when you read email.
>>    
>>
>
>Uh, no.
>  
>
Yes, it is. I choose what MUA I use to WRITE the message. You choose 
what MUA you use to READ the message.

I have no control over what you use the read the message.

Or didn't you see that?

>>Knowing that folks don't put margins in their emails, and using an MUA
>>that doesn't handle it gracefully is like moving in next to PDX and then
>>complaining about the noise. Did you NOT know there was an airport
>>there?
>>    
>>
>
>Nobody's complaining about people that put NO margins in their emails...
>they're complaining about people who put unusually small or large margins
>in their emails.
>
The margins I have set in my message when I write it should have no 
bearing on what your MUA does with it. We're not talking about a 
document (Word, OpenOffice, or otherwise). We're talking about an email.

Russ