Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcsla.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west From: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Newsgroups: net.news,net.flame Subject: Re: USENET frowning on graphics in signatures Message-ID: <1019@sdcsla.UUCP> Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 22:12:58 EST Article-I.D.: sdcsla.1019 Posted: Mon Nov 4 22:12:58 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 7-Nov-85 06:24:34 EST References: <1008@decwrl.UUCP> Reply-To: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Organization: UC San Diego: Institute for Cognitive Science Lines: 55 Xref: watmath net.news:4282 net.flame:12654 In article <1008@decwrl.UUCP> chabot@dec-miles.UUCP writes: > I don't think that forcing someone to type in the quotation by hand is a good > idea because it would lead to all sorts of misquotes. Perhaps some sort of > informative message, like the one warning you about all the people you're going > to be boring by posting at all, could warn you that nobody wants to read all > that stuff again. > > L S Chabot ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot Eric Norman (ejnorman@uwmacc) posted an article (1592@uwmacc) which contained a possible solution to this problem, which I'll rephrase here: The Followup routine copies in the entire text of the article, prefaced by some obvious character(s) ["==> "], then lets you edit to your heart's delight. After you are done, the Followup routine throws away every line which is unaltered from the original article. Thus, users would have to change some character(s) [e.g., "==> " to "> "] to keep the quoted material. One modification that seems worthwhile to me is that if the quoted lines are broken into small sections with new text in between, they should not be deleted (to provide for point-by-point rebuttals). Presumably the Followup routine would let the user review the followup before posting it ("RN" does this, of course). I know we would see a rash of articles where follow-ups referred to null text (or worse, the wrong text), but this could be pretty amusing anyway, and would encourage the poster of the followup to be more careful in the future. I hope. Currently, the poster sees the long quotation and thinks nothing of it. Another minor alternative is that instead of simply deleting the text, it could be replaced with a message like: --- Excessive quotation automatically deleted --- and this seems more responsible, though less funny. --- While on the subject of changing what the user posts, how about replacing RN's "*** REPLACE ... ***" (or anything which _remotely_resembles_ this:-) with: *** This followup is posted by a naive user: *** Yes, I know, that's already what it means.... -- Larry West (USA+619-)452-6771 Institute for Cognitive Science non-business hours: 452-2256 UC San Diego (mailcode C-015) La Jolla, CA 92093 U.S.A. ARPA:or UUCP: {ucbvax,sdcrdcf,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west or {sun,mplvax,gti,ihnss,whuxlb,ulysses}!sdcsla!west