[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Net Wars (was Re: Canal St.)

Hi,

> Y'know, most of us don't do that because our computers
> do that for us.

There's your problem right there.  Some computers haven't been programmed smart
enough to put in carriage returns.  Here's the thing: the email/posting
protocols generally known as "netiquette" were developed before WYSIWYG-type
word processing and GUI email interfaces.  (For example, I mentioned the 80
character thing.  The old IBM paper punch cards were 80 characters long, so
when terminals were first developed, they were made a standard 80 characters
wide.  Then the windows (small w) format came along that allowed any width.
But many simple interfaces like vt100 still have a fixed 80 character width.)
People were writing their own front end programs to interact with the mail
daemons, or they were using one of multiple email or newsreader programs.
Netiquette was based on the following assumption: we don't know what kind of
reader you will be using, so it's better for all of us to use a format that can
be read by *everybody*.  Many current programs (especially Windows software),
take the opposite approach: to make the assumption that everyone is (or should
be) using the same software, so they can be as idiosyncratic as they want, and
if that makes it harder for you, tough.  Buy microsoft or shut up.  I disagree
with both the underlying principle and the practical effects of that policy.  I
*like* the fact that the Netiquette came out of the desire to make sure
*everyone* could participate.  It's *not* just arbitrary dictates of some
authority.  I think it's very sad that some mass-market email programs decided
to ignore it, thus putting new people in the position of having to either learn
too many nuts and bolts in order to undo what the programmers did, or having to
make their emails frustrating and/or useless for some readers.  They should
have written it to make the standard the default, and then give you the option
to make it as unstandard as you like.  I like to hope those decisions were made
by the pointy-haired boss on Dilbert, and not the programmers themselves, but
maybe that's just the optimist in me.

> If it comes across fine in
> everybody's email, I'm not gonna waste time putting in
> carriage returns just for the sake of the archives.

But your email *has* carriage returns, so why are you complaining?

If it doesn't have carriage returns, it *won't* "come across fine in
everybody's email".  That's precisely the problem.  It's not just about the
archives.  If someone sends me an email without carriage returns, the window
will wrap the line around, but it will do so right at the edge, which may be in
the middle of a word.  That's hard to read, too.  I use emacs for composition,
and all I have to do is hit ESC-q, and the program will adjust all the lines in
a paragraph to the right length, putting in carriage returns as needed.  If
hitting two buttons will make it easier/possible for everyone to read it, I do
it gladly.  If your software is selfish enough to make it difficult for you to
communicate with people using other software, maybe you should switch software,
or at least be prepared that people will complain.  How would you feel if I
wrote all my emails in LaTeX, and then said "tough, get LaTeX and stop
complaining"?  If I do my email in some non-standard format, I should be
prepared that it will make life more frustrating for others.  Personally,
I believe it's more polite to do a little more work myself to make life
easier for a lot of other people, rather than insist that everyone conform
to what's easiest for me.

> If you're a net nazi, maybe I'm a net anarchist! ;)

Not if you simply accept the defaults that the software dictates.  Then you're
a net sheep.  Look, the Netiquette was developed by lots of people *in*
anarchy.  It was not handed down by some cabal or CEO.  It was lots of monkeys
on typewriters, figuring out what worked best.  There were discussions,
arguments, and compromises.  RFCs were written, and the rules were hammered
out.  Something like typical windows software is based on decisions made by a
small number of people, and they are built into the software on the assumption
that you won't know or care enough to figure stuff out for yourself.  Falling
into that party line is not the path of an anarchist.

Okay, that's my rant.  I'll shut up now.

And please don't call me a nazi, even in jest.  'nuff said.
-- 
Don Smith                    Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu        http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/

"Standing on a well-chilled cinder we see the fading of the suns and try
to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
				     - Georges Lematre

---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/MediaNation/OtR/
Follow-Ups: References: