Weird messages

[Zsolt Antal <zs...@kronos.HomeUnix.com>]

Hi,

 I'm lurking here about two weeks and I would have a few questions about
the weird messages in this list:

Is the following normal, accepted or simply `we must live with it'?

- html post
- top post (ie.: reply _above_ the quoted message)
- big sigblocks (over 4-5 lines)
- original post/question as a reply to a message in an absolutelly
unrelated thread

 Or there is no chance to explain this to the users of this list why all
of the above is bad habit/technique?

(I'm not wondering when I look at the headers from the weird posts,
especially at the `X-Mailer' field.)

Sorry for my english!

	-zsolt



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Re: Weird messages

[Nikola Milutinovic <Ni...@ev.co.yu>]

Zsolt Antal wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Is the following normal, accepted or simply `we must live with it'?
> 
> - html post

This is debatable. There is no fixed standard on what a "HTML message" is. A 
HTML document embedded into the body of the "real" message as a MIME chunk is so 
far the closest description I've seen. On the other hand, most users have or can 
get their hands on a mail client that swallows HTML messages - which is not an 
excuse, but HTML folks are using as a leverage for their cause.

As you can see, I'm sending in plain TEXT.

> - top post (ie.: reply _above_ the quoted message)

Top post as a reply to the lower quoted section is a stupidity, agreed. But if 
you want to make a preamble to your reply, then it can be used.

> - big sigblocks (over 4-5 lines)

Only if they are funny. And I'd suggest users stick to this formula:

sigBlock.NumberOfLines()*sigBlocak.HumorLevel() == SignatureBlock.FIXED_CONSTANT

> - original post/question as a reply to a message in an absolutelly
> unrelated thread

Utter stupidity. I don't know how they manage to do it. Reply, erase quoted text 
and write their message?

>  Or there is no chance to explain this to the users of this list why all
> of the above is bad habit/technique?

How? You'd need a moderator to police this list and evaluate every mail. For 
each "bad" mail, they would have to send a direct reply to the users and 
withstand a, usually, long reply-forth-and-back conversation with them, plus be 
a toll free support in teaching them how to use their clients. People on this 
list who are answering requests already have their hands full.

> (I'm not wondering when I look at the headers from the weird posts,
> especially at the `X-Mailer' field.)

:-)

> Sorry for my english!

So far, so good.

Nixie.


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Re: Weird messages

[Andreas Probst <an...@gmx.net>]

Hi Zsolt,

I personally find it best to read the response on top and to be 
able to afterwards read the full request if necessary. So I 
don't need to search it between the hundreds of messages that 
come during a day. As bandwiths doesn't matter today, the 
increased size shouldn't be a problem.

Concerning the format I would prefer not to have these messages 
with whole paragraphs in one line, but that's my opinion.

Regards.

Andreas


On 12 Dec 2002 at 14:28, Zsolt Antal wrote:

> Hi,
> 
>  I'm lurking here about two weeks and I would have a few
>  questions about
> the weird messages in this list:
> 
> Is the following normal, accepted or simply `we must live with
> it'?
> 
> - html post
> - top post (ie.: reply _above_ the quoted message)
> - big sigblocks (over 4-5 lines)
> - original post/question as a reply to a message in an
> absolutelly unrelated thread
> 
>  Or there is no chance to explain this to the users of this list
>  why all
> of the above is bad habit/technique?
> 
> (I'm not wondering when I look at the headers from the weird
> posts, especially at the `X-Mailer' field.)
> 
> Sorry for my english!
> 
>  -zsolt
> 


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