[Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.

Fri Mar 24 13:20:05 EST 2006

The primary reason for this list is 'technical', not tales from yesteryear, 
boat anchor or not. As I clearly said, now and then is fine, but as of late, 
it is a bit too much.

If you want to feel persecuted, you will. A number of people contributed to 
the thread, but it has nothing to do with anyone in particular, but the 
drifting away from the primary list focus in particular. Said purpose is 
clearly stated on the 'mailman' home page -

This is a hobby. It is supposed to be fun, helpful and mutually beneficial. 
So let's do precisely that, technical and historical assistance first, now 
and then wanderings down memory lane too.

My screen reading program can't handle those funny characters and those 
strings of punctuation marks cause it to stutter. I can handle worngs that 
are spelled wrong, sort of funny sometimes! Back to the focus gentlemen.

DBFW
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gkb" <gkbrown at gwi.net>
To: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>; "FRED - W4FJF" 
<ka2hlw at netzero.net>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 2:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.

> Your ranting and raving on about what to do and what not to do is a bit to
> long. My post "did you ever" was about boatanchors. Once again you 
> directed
> a personnel attack towards me.
> Duane, GROW UP.
>
> Gary...
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
> To: "FRED - W4FJF" <ka2hlw at netzero.net>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 1:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.
>
>
>> Re Case Sensitivity. Disengage Caps Lock before shifting!
>>
>> This has gone far enough, in fact 'too' far! This list is about vintage
>> radio equipment, commonly known as Boat Anchors. It is not about our
> musings
>> of yesteryear and someone's trip down memory lane, AKA "Did You Ever 
>> ...?"
>> Now there is nothing wrong that I am going to object to as far as now and
>> then someone shares his/her memories about a radio adventure, or
>> misadventure, with the group. In point of fact, they can be most
> enjoyable,
>> amusing and even educational. Sometimes a little diversion from the
>> prescribed path is good, breaks up the mundane, lessens tensions etc.
>> However, too much of anything generally results in a problem of one kind
> or
>> another.
>>
>> Sometimes, and this is one of those times, the Boat Anchor road atlas
> seems
>> to get misplaced and the electronic traffic is not only headed in the
> wrong
>> direction on a one way street, it is also on the wrong street and in the
>> wrong city!  The list is getting too far off the map and we all need to
> get
>> our focus back on the topic.
>>
>> This nonsense about typing in upper or lower case is ridiculous. As long
> as
>> you type in English; the font, color, case, number of characters per 
>> line,
>> correct spelling, correct grammar, proper punctuation and so forth is not
> up
>> for debate. At least not on this list, as this is not English Composition
>> 101! I realize that some people, and organizations, assign different
>> arbitrary meanings to various symbols, use of punctuation marks for
>> emphasis, inaudible tone connotations by using a bold font or underlining
>> etc. Which is fine. However, on this list, I make the rules! Which are as
>> follows:
>>
>> Just compose as you were taught in elementary school and then polished up
> in
>> high school with mandatory compositions. Remember those horrible things
>> called "book reports" or the dreaded "essay with an outline, rough draft
> and
>> footnotes?
>>
>> Now just type your post on the computer's plastic keyboard with keys that
>> wiggle, wobble and cause touch typists to babble like a Parrot who wrote
>> invisible notes to Big Bird by dipping his beak in Jamaican Rum!
>>
>> The subscribers on this list are remarkably bright. They can generally
> tell
>> by the structure and wording of a sentance when the author is shouting,
>> cursing profusely, smashing the plastic keyboard with a heavy blunt 
>> object
>> or leaving excited little puppy puddles on the carpeting from the hiss of
>> static emitted by the freshly recapped receiver on her maiden band 
>> cruise.
>> They do not require words to be typed in solid upper case, tripple
>> punctuation marks to signal the end of the line, blinking text in a
>> different color than the main text body giving an Atlantic City Marquee
>> effect(Or for some of us, a flashback to those days when psychedelic 
>> drugs
>> allowed us to take a trip without ever leaving home!) or to deduce that
> the
>> author is unhappy based on the tonal denotation of the message where you
>> suggested  he could blow his brains out by blowing  his nose hard! The
>> subscribers only have those more dense than Lead moments when they hear
>> "Honey did you remember to take out the trash last night for the pick up
>> this morning or is there a dead Skunk in the utility room?", "You are not
>> going to believe this dad, but a runaway cement mixer truck ran over your
>> new Corvette in the McDonalds parking lot and it can now fit between two
>> really big sesame seed buns!" or "Dad if your thirteen year old daughter
>> made you a grandfather by giving birth to triplets could she get an
> increase
>> in her allowance?"
>>
>> Just so you know ahead of time what the penalty is for typing with the
> Caps
>> Lock engaged, you will be forced to read Robert Orwell's "Precepts For 
>> The
>> English Language". If you thought the "Red Badge Of Courage" was long,
> dull
>> and a sure cure for insomnia, Orwell's book could put a stone to sleep!
>>
>> Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "FRED - W4FJF" <ka2hlw at netzero.net>
>> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 8:09 PM
>> Subject: [Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.
>>
>>
>> > Hi Group,
>> >   The use of UPPER CASE letters does not denote SHOUTING! After 
>> > watching
>> > this and other lists, I see that this conception is almost universal
> with
>> > a few selected individuals. When a ham is asking for a tube and its
>> > designation may be 6SK7GTB, is he SHOUTING it into your eyeballs? Or
> would
>> > you prefer 6sk7gtb? The distinction between upper case letters and 
>> > lower
>> > case letters depends upon whether you were in the military(ie, active 
>> > or
>> > reserve duty) or a baby boomer that never seen a day of military
> service.
>> > In the Navy, EVERYTHING TRANSMITTED IS IN UPPER CASE LETTERS, or was
> until
>> > recently. In amateur radio, upper case letters are used to draw your
>> > attention to something important, not to SHOUT into your eyeballs. 
>> > Which
>> > would draw your attention more quickly, a part number 1N2006, or 
>> > 1n2006?
>> > I, personally, find this constant bickering about what case a person
> uses
>> > to be unimportant, and rather childish. As this country is based on 
>> > free
>> > speech, who cares what case they use to pass their info on to others?
>> > Also, as you will observe below, my SIGNATURE is all upper case letters
> as
>> > I am extremely proud of being an Amateur Radio Operator for 25 years,
> and
>> > an 11 year veteran of the NAVY MARINE CORPS MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO
>> > SYSTEM. For all you hair splitters, I am not going to change the way I
>> > display my signature. There is nothing you will be able to say that 
>> > will
>> > change my mind. Anyone who wants to argue the point, please do so off
> the
>> > list, so the list's bandwidth can be used for other more important
> issues.
>> > So lets get off this shouting crap, and get into something like helping
> a
>> > fellow amateur find a part, or get advice on fixing/restoring his
>> > classic/antique radio. After all, that is what this list is for, isn't
> it?
>> >        TNX FM FRED - W4FJF/NNN0QAA REGION FOUR, 73
>> > AMATEUR RADIO IS A NATIONAL RESOURCE, NOT "JUST A HOBBY".
> NAVMARCORPSMARS
>> > MEMBER,"PROUDLY SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE".
>> > A FOOL'S PARADISE IS A WISE MAN'S HELL.
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Boatanchors mailing list
>> > Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
>> > ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **
>> > ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>> > $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
>> > http://www.w9wze.org
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > -- 
>> > No virus found in this incoming message.
>> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> > Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.6/286 - Release Date: 
>> > 3/20/2006
>> >
>> >
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Boatanchors mailing list
>> Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
>> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **
>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
>> http://www.w9wze.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.6/288 - Release Date: 3/22/2006
>>
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.2.6/286 - Release Date: 3/20/2006
>
> 