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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "Michael R. Goldberg" <mrgoldbe@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: linewrapping
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 23:26:30 -0500
Is anyone else having trouble with certain posts not line-wrapping? It
already takes me long enough to read a day's worth of posts in digest
format without having to go through all sort of scrolling to read
everything.

Just curious,
Mike

PS. Of course, there is always the possibility that it is just my cheap
mailer that I am using.
Message no. 2
From: Jeffrey Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: linewrapping
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 22:32:18 -0700
On Fri, 10 Jul 1998, Michael R. Goldberg wrote:

> Is anyone else having trouble with certain posts not line-wrapping? It
> already takes me long enough to read a day's worth of posts in digest
> format without having to go through all sort of scrolling to read
> everything.

> PS. Of course, there is always the possibility that it is just my cheap
> mailer that I am using.

Depends on your definition of "cheap." Using Pine, the word wrap is
accomplished with carriage returns so that if you were to attempt to read
the message as a text file it would be in the same column format. (For
better or worse, it will rearrange the returns to word wrap the text, so
you have to make sure to have an empty line before and after the paragraph
you are wrapping.) However, there seem to be a proliferation of mailers
that simply word-wrap on the screen and don't bother to insert carriage
returns in the wrapping. Therefore when it hits the archives, etc, it
appears as one big line which can make things real ugly real fast. But
since their mail editor word wraps the text on the screen while creating
the post, as well as wrapping received mail, many people may have this
problem without even knowing it.

The quick and dirty answer to this is for people to check how their mailer
handles word-wrapping, and if the option to word wrap with carriage
returns is unavailable, they simply have to make sure their mail editor is
set to at or less than 80 columns and make sure to hit return before they
type off the edge of the window. A bit of extra work, but nice for
others. Actually, because Pine is smart enough, I sometimes re-word wrap
other peoples posts in my replies to them, if they have this problem, and
it handles the > marks as long as it is the first reply.

--Catch you later

Jeff
Message no. 3
From: Avenger <Avenger@*******.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: linewrapping
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 06:52:16 +0100
In article <199807110426.XAA28098@********.ix.netcom.com>, Michael R.
Goldberg <mrgoldbe@**.NETCOM.COM> writes
>Is anyone else having trouble with certain posts not line-wrapping? It
>already takes me long enough to read a day's worth of posts in digest
>format without having to go through all sort of scrolling to read
>everything.
>
>PS. Of course, there is always the possibility that it is just my cheap
>mailer that I am using.

No Mike you are not the only one. Quite a few posts come through to my
end with line wrap problems as well. It's a "feature" of some mailers,
and as a couple of people have found out, adding in line wrap results in
those wonderful >>>> things on each line of the first paragraph. I
guess it's just one of those things that /real/ mailers <grin> can
handle, and the toys can't. :)

(ducks into shelter)

--
Avenger
http://www.shalako.demon.co.uk/index.htm
(Newbies Survival Guide to Stk & SR stuff)
http://freespace.virgin.net/p.siems/index.htm
(UK Survival Guide, SR Guide to the Oceans.)

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about linewrapping, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!