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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!osu-eddie!karl
From: karl@osu-eddie.UUCP (Karl Kleinpaste)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: FYI: underlining/highlighting in news articles
Message-ID: <2@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Dec-84 22:09:40 EST
Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.2
Posted: Tue Dec  4 22:09:40 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Dec-84 03:05:23 EST
Organization: Society for the Advancement of Raw Weirdness
Lines: 70

For crying out loud, this has *really* gotten out of hand...
----------
> I STILL don't recommend playing these games-- someone is going to get
> burned by it.
----------
Yeah.  Me.

(1) I received quite a herd  of  mail  (herd:  >10  letters)  asking me very
politely  how  I  got reverse video or underlining into  my  postings.  (The
interpretation varies from one terminal/termcap-description to another as to
whether  you  saw it as underlined or highlighted.)  Hence, I thought I  was
doing the net public  a  genuine  favor when  I  posted what is evidently an
undocumented and sometimes well-liked feature of the news system.

(2) I note editorially that the degree of civility and politeness with which
the posting was greeted has been considerably less than exemplary.  That is,
by those who didn't like it, of course.

(3) Someone (can't remember who,  doesn't  matter) posted to the effect that
he  reads  news  from  EMACS,   and   that  this  feature  caused  him  some
consternation when reading postings with  said feature in use.  Well, if you
deal  with the news system with software other than the news  software,  you
are  up  your  own  creek,  and  you  can't expect  any  help  from  anybody
whatsoever; you deserve what you get.  You are using a tool designed for one
particular job for an entirely different job.   For news, use software which
is designed for news. If you must retrofit EMACS to do news, see to it first
that EMACS does the whole job correctly.

(4) I did not advocate the usage  of  escape  sequences of any kind; I noted
that  this  feature  worked  using simple backspace (^H),  which  is  not  a
pathological use of any terminal I've ever seen. (Yes, I've seen some pretty
bizarre ones.)

(5) Even if I  *had*  advocated  the  usage  of  escape  sequences  (such as
highlighting for vt100 series terminals), Mark Horton has already posted  to
the effect that the news software  traps  crap like that, strips it out, and
sends it on its way in a form which disallows damage to anybody else.

(6) The fact that the  feature  exists in  the  news software indicates that
somebody somewhere for some reason thought it would be a good, neat,  useful
idea. I happen to agree. That  person added  it. I'm glad. Evidently, it was
not implemented fully, in that not all terminals which can be used with  the
news software can deal with it.  I  have  one flame in my mail which objects
LOUDLY  to the fact that it has hung up their terminal. Now I'm not so  glad
any more. (I don't even know what type of terminal it was; just keep it away
from me.)  With all the due respect that I can muster for the news  software
authors, let this be a lesson to you about half-implementations of features.
If you can't do it *completely*, please be kind and don't do it *at all*.

(7) I have already stopped using this apparent misfeature, and have reverted
to (ugh) *asterisks* and CAPITALIZATION, though I avoid \weird slashes/  and
s p a c e d   w o r d s  with a passion.

(8) I have already posted a general  retraction of the suggestion, cancelled
the original article, and cancelled a followup which I wrote in response  to
the beginnings of the hate mail I got.  So...



LET'S JUST QUIT DISCUSSING IT.



Geez, to think I was trying to do somebody a favor...I genuinely feel that I
did not earn the abuse which I have received, particularly in the mail.
-- 
From the badly beaten keyboards of                       best address---+
him who speaks in *TyPe* f-O-n-T-s...                                   |
									V
Karl Kleinpaste @ Bell Labs, Columbus   614/860-5107  {cbosgd,ihnp4}!cbrma!kk
                @ Ohio State University 614/422-0915    cbosgd!osu-eddie!karl