[rescue] =?X-UNKNOWN?Q?Re=3A_=5Brescue=5D_Slightly_OT=3A=A0Bad_Cap_Saga?=

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Jonathan C. Patschke" <jp at celestrion.net>
>Date: 2008/08/19 Tue AM 04:02:30 EDT
>To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: [rescue]	=?X-UNKNOWN?Q?Re=3A_=5Brescue=5D_Slightly_OT=3A=A0Bad_Cap_Saga?=

>On Tue, 19 Aug 2008, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>
>> Inserting line breaks imposes a format on the message,
>
>With 'Format="flowed"', your mailer will give you the best of both.

If/when I change mail programs, I have no "religious" reason to avoid 'Format="flowed"', but my current mailer doesn't support it.


<snip>

>The RFC is obtuse and dense, as they are wont to be, but the core of it is
>that there are soft CRs and hard CRs.  Soft CRs have a leading space
>(which is why lines are wrapped to 79 columns--the dumbest terminals on
>the planet will display that correctly).  Hard CRs do not.

I thought terminals wrapped at 79 characters because the 80th column on Hollerith cards were for continuation marks. Guess I've been around too long and history is causing me to make assumptions.

This concept of "soft cr" is a bit odd for me to wrap my brain around (old dog, new trick)...

>RFC 2646 also specifies the minutiae of how to take all that and handle
>nested quotes in a reasonable manner.  It also codifies the signature
>separator and a few other Nice Things.  It's tasty with and without
>catsup.
>
>> I defer to your email client to present my emails to you in a way that
>> suits your tastes.
>
>As seen in your message headers:
>
>   Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Your mailer is imposing format by omitting 'Format="flowed"'.  By that
>omission, your mailer is telling mine "display this text with exactly the
>line endings I've specified."

I think my mail program is allowing yours to default without any suggestion at all - perhaps a distinction without a difference.

>The reason that this is the default behavior should be obvious.
>Displaying data exactly as presented, except when given latitude to modify
>it, is reasonable behavior for well-behaved software.
>
>> I'm sorry my email format prevents you from enjoying the fruits of my
>> random key presses.
>
>This topic seems to keep popping up on this list.

I count twice, maybe thrice - and I've been on the list over 8 years (not that being on the list a long time makes me right, just that is my sample size, modified by my memory for such things)...

>RFC 2646 addresses the
>problem in a way that is reasonably non-intrusive for all parties, and is
>supported on practically every MUA version released this century.  It
>seems a pointless thing to argue about when there's such a widespread
>solution that can indulge an author's artistic intent while protecting the
>reader from unintentional irritation.

I'd never heard about this RFC prior to this thread, and I can think of at least one MUA released this century that doesn't support it ;^)

My only real point of contention is that the original commentor assumed I didn't think about the format of my emails when I had.

Nearly one third of the posts I make to this list are from my iPhone, and while the UI limits my patience to ramble on betwixt "hard CR"s, I don't think it puts out 'Format="flowed"' formats...

BTW, who futzed up the Subject Line - there must be an RFC that defines how MUAs should preserve and modify Subject lines in replies...

Lionel