Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cornell.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!wivax!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!ddw From: ddw@cornell.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Quoting Previous Articles Message-ID: <4730@cornell.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Jun-83 12:57:49 EDT Article-I.D.: cornell.4730 Posted: Wed Jun 29 12:57:49 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 30-Jun-83 02:44:17 EDT Sender: ddw@cornell.UUCP Organization: Cornell Computer Science Lines: 40 From: ddw (David Wright) To: net-flame First off, I am in favor of quoting previous articles when you are referring to them. Only someone with a truly extraordinary memory does not need this aid when reading a response to an article that appeared weeks ago. *** FLAME ON *** HOWEVER, the methods of quoting used over this net range from good to awful. I reserve particular contempt for people who simply insert the (left justified) text into their responses, with no breaks or indications of where the quotation leaves off. Next up on the scale are the people who block off the quoted material with lines of asterisks. This still requires me to keep count of lines so I know which is which. The problem is reduced slightly by people who precede the opening line of *'s with a blank and have the quoted text start immediately after (no blank line), reversing this at the end. This still requires me to remember what convention is being used, however. Somewhat more acceptable is the practice of starting each quoted line with a '>'. Unfortunately, it looks kinda ugly. Look, people, what's wrong with indenting your damn quotations?! Anyone with a half-decent screen editor has no excuse, and even if you don't have such an editor, you can always run the offending article through nroff with a few spaces of extra indent. Indentation is after all the standard method of quoting blocks of material in printed articles. *** FLAME OFF *** By the way, "quote" is a verb and "quotation" is a noun. I also hate people who can't spell. David Wright {vax135|decvax|ihnss}!cornell!ddw ddw.cornell@udel-relay ddw@cornell