[TheForge] fyi concerning theforge archives and posting to theforge

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

first off, no i am not the 'list mom'.

dave mudge, is the new 'list mom'. i had mentioned my thoughts all ready
to dave in a private e-mail. i had at that time told dave i would wait
till theforge searchable archives were ready for use. the timing changed
after it became apparent that numerous msgs were so badly mangled that i
would have to hand edited them.

i am not going to rant or whine in this msg.

i am only presenting the facts concerning theforge archives
and asking that members of theforge consider taking time to
ensure that their posts and replies are readable by a human
being.

many of the msgs in theforge archives are mangled.

example:

the original msg by frosty is readable.

[TheForge] Line Shaft Driven Factories
http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/theforge/2003-May/032915.html

after a couple replies the original msg is mangled.
you may have to scroll down to see the mangled portion of the
msg.

[TheForge] OT....story of Ketchikan
http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/theforge/2003-May/032921.html

[TheForge] OT....story of Ketchikan
http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/theforge/2003-May/032923.html

the other problem which leads to mangled msgs is it would appear
that a few e-mail programs out there have something against inserting
carriage returns/linefeeds at a reasonable column.

a common factor in the mangled msgs is that they all appear to be
mangled after someone with an excite.com e-mail address replied to them.

one of the purposes of theforge e-mail list is to provide information to
anyone who wants it. to achive that purpose it would help if the
information was at least readable.

so if you feel like please check your e-mail program settings.
good settings are something like:
plaintext, no mime nor html
reply indicator of '> ' ( that is "greater-than followed by at least one
space. )
linewrap at column 72.

i am not asking anyone to check their e-mail program settings.

i am not telling anyone they have to check their e-mail program settings.

if you do not want to check your e-mail program settings that is fine
with me.

if you do check your e-mail program settings that is fine too.

finally, i you feel so inclined delete theforge standard footer that
appears at the end of every msg when you reply. after several replies
these just become mangled.

if you notice that your reply has caused linewrapping in the quoted text
if you feel so inclined adjust the linewrapping so it is readable.


-- 
terry l. ridder ><>