"I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"

While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
that have been repeated endlessly for years. Sorry, Terry, but I'm so
tired of your sig--"If the bird had been as tender as the waitress'
breast, etc, etc." --it has been repeated for several years now. And
Default User/Brian's "tv is a babysitter", and Wayne's "Ok,Ok, I take
it back". There are many of them. I'm tired of them, and I'm sure
others are. Tell a joke once and let it go, please?? Even Sheldon
finally! after years and years of "I try to be open-minded, but not so
open that my brains fall out" , finally gave it up.

Sorry if I offend, but someone had to say it.

Regards,
Nancree

nancree wrote:

> "I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
> please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"
>
> While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
> that have been repeated endlessly for years. Sorry, Terry, but I'm so
> tired of your sig--"If the bird had been as tender as the waitress'
> breast, etc, etc." --it has been repeated for several years now. And
> Default User/Brian's "tv is a babysitter", and Wayne's "Ok,Ok, I take
> it back". There are many of them. I'm tired of them, and I'm sure
> others are. Tell a joke once and let it go, please?? Even Sheldon
> finally! after years and years of "I try to be open-minded, but not so
> open that my brains fall out" , finally gave it up.
>
> Sorry if I offend, but someone had to say it.
>
> Regards,
> Nancree
>

I agree. There are some very nice sigs here, including Terry's, but a
little variety is nice!

Peter

nancree wrote:
> "I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
> please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"
>
> While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
> that have been repeated endlessly for years. [snip]

As to trimming posts, top posting, annoying or long sigs, and other
annoyances like cross posters and unlabeled OT posts:

* I have read newsgroups for many years with Outlook Express,
Agent, and now Google and in every case it has been easy to scroll or
click past all the millions of lines that I didn't feel like reading,
so long as the mouse was working properly. Some days it's the most
exercise I get all day.

* My personal experience is that the rest of the world stubbornly
refuses, over and over agin, to conform itself to my personal
preferences. Hence I have to put up with capital punishment, unjust
wars, racism and all the other isms, not to mention posters with no
sense of humor, the relentless attempts to drag down cooking/eating
standards in the name of time saving and convenience, and of course the
ego parades.

* So my conclusion is that you all should post however you want,
about whatever you want, and I'll read what I want and skip the rest.
Feel free to do the same. -aem

Lol, too funny, cheers. )

nancree wrote:

> "I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
> please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"
>
> While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
> that have been repeated endlessly for years. Sorry, Terry, but I'm so
> tired of your sig--"If the bird had been as tender as the waitress'
> breast, etc, etc." --it has been repeated for several years now. And
> Default User/Brian's "tv is a babysitter", and Wayne's "Ok,Ok, I take
> it back". There are many of them. I'm tired of them, and I'm sure
> others are. Tell a joke once and let it go, please?? Even Sheldon
> finally! after years and years of "I try to be open-minded, but not so
> open that my brains fall out" , finally gave it up.
>
> Sorry if I offend, but someone had to say it.

Also important IMO would be that folks with big honking
sigs should use a sig delimiter.

A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
else.

When someone replies, everything after the "--" will be left out
of the reply. It's automatic, and almost all newsreaders will
function this way.

So, put a sig delimiter *before* your big honking sigs.

In theory everyone should snip off all the trailing stuff in
their replies anyway, but you know how that goes.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

writes:

>Also important IMO would be that folks with big honking
>sigs should use a sig delimiter.
>
>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>else.

nope - it's two dashes followed by a whitespace character: "-- "

Blatt Mack wrote:

> writes:
>
>
>>Also important IMO would be that folks with big honking
>>sigs should use a sig delimiter.
>>
>>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>>else.
>
>
> nope - it's two dashes followed by a whitespace character: "-- "
>

Interesting. Mine doesn't contain a ws char in the sig file
and it works fine.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

In article > ,
Reg > wrote:


> > nope - it's two dashes followed by a whitespace character: "-- "
> >
>
> Interesting. Mine doesn't contain a ws char in the sig file
> and it works fine.

Interesting, because it's there. Perhaps your newsreader is smart
enough to know that you intended the "--" to be a delimiter and changed
it to "-- ".

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA

Dan Abel wrote:

> In article > ,
> Reg > wrote:
>
>>>nope - it's two dashes followed by a whitespace character: "-- "
>>>
>>
>>Interesting. Mine doesn't contain a ws char in the sig file
>>and it works fine.
>
>
> Interesting, because it's there. Perhaps your newsreader is smart
> enough to know that you intended the "--" to be a delimiter and changed
> it to "-- ".
>

Precisely. Software developers have learned over the years to
make things as easy as possible. You wouldn't want setting up
a newsreader to be like configuring sendmail or something.
Forcing a user to include the space isn't necessary.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Reg wrote:

> Also important IMO would be that folks with big honking
> sigs should use a sig delimiter.
>
> A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
> else.
>
> When someone replies, everything after the "--" will be left out
> of the reply. It's automatic, and almost all newsreaders will
> function this way.

Which still ignores that one should trim up (and out!) all that
extraneous stuff. Why just assume a machine will do enough?
Goomba

writes:
>Dan Abel wrote:
>
>> In article > ,
>> Reg > wrote:
>>
>>>>nope - it's two dashes followed by a whitespace character: "-- "
>>>>
>>>
>>>Interesting. Mine doesn't contain a ws char in the sig file
>>>and it works fine.
>>
>>
>> Interesting, because it's there. Perhaps your newsreader is smart
>> enough to know that you intended the "--" to be a delimiter and changed
>> it to "-- ".
>>
>
>Precisely. Software developers have learned over the years to
>make things as easy as possible. You wouldn't want setting up
>a newsreader to be like configuring sendmail or something.
>Forcing a user to include the space isn't necessary.


what have we learned from this lesson boys & girls?

A. reg has never used a Microsoft product
B. reg has had indigestion all day
C. A whitespace character is kind of like a McGuffin - nothing at all
D. all of the above
E. ob food: when making a roux you may substitute whole wheat flour
but it is not recommended

Goomba38 wrote:

> Reg wrote:
>
>> Also important IMO would be that folks with big honking
>> sigs should use a sig delimiter.
>>
>> A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>> else.
>>
>> When someone replies, everything after the "--" will be left out
>> of the reply. It's automatic, and almost all newsreaders will
>> function this way.
>
>
> Which still ignores that one should trim up (and out!) all that
> extraneous stuff. Why just assume a machine will do enough?

It doesn't ignore anything. It's a single datapoint in
what is a fairly broad subject.

None of this stuff ever worries me, however. If I ever speak
to the issue of "how to post", it's always in the spirit of
offering advice where it might be welcome and/or useful. Trying
to exert control is pointless.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

tert in seattle wrote:

> what have we learned from this lesson boys & girls?
>
> A. reg has never used a Microsoft product
> B. reg has had indigestion all day
> C. A whitespace character is kind of like a McGuffin - nothing at all
> D. all of the above

Thanks for the laugh. It helped brighten up a rather dull
day at the keyboard.

I admit I don't know what a McGuffen is, though.

> E. ob food: when making a roux you may substitute whole wheat flour
> but it is not recommended

Tried it. Didn't like it.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

tert in seattle wrote:
> [snip]
> C. A whitespace character is kind of like a McGuffin - nothing at all

A nerdy blast from the past. In the old DOS - Basic days you could
distinguish between the regular whitespace created by the spacebar and
the whitespace created by the ASCII code. I used to use the latter in
passwords and attempts to use the other would fail. Or was it the
underscore character? Senior moment, I can't remember. -aem

"aem" > wrote

> A nerdy blast from the past. In the old DOS - Basic days you could
> distinguish between the regular whitespace created by the spacebar and
> the whitespace created by the ASCII code.

Days older than that ... you're thinking of null vs space?

nancy

aem wrote:

> tert in seattle wrote:
>
>>[snip]
>>C. A whitespace character is kind of like a McGuffin - nothing at all
>
>
> A nerdy blast from the past. In the old DOS - Basic days you could
> distinguish between the regular whitespace created by the spacebar and
> the whitespace created by the ASCII code. I used to use the latter in
> passwords and attempts to use the other would fail. Or was it the
> underscore character? Senior moment, I can't remember. -aem
>

Yeah, but what is a McGuffin?

PS: od -x

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

writes:
>tert in seattle wrote:
>
>> what have we learned from this lesson boys & girls?
>>
>> A. reg has never used a Microsoft product
>> B. reg has had indigestion all day
>> C. A whitespace character is kind of like a McGuffin - nothing at all
>> D. all of the above
>
>Thanks for the laugh. It helped brighten up a rather dull
>day at the keyboard.
>
>I admit I don't know what a McGuffen is, though.

this is what Hitchcock said:

It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in
a train. One man says, 'What's that package up there in the baggage
rack?' And the other answers, 'Oh that's a McGuffin.' The first one asks
'What's a McGuffin?' 'Well' the other man says, 'It's an apparatus
for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.' The first man says,
'But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,' and the other one
answers 'Well, then that's no McGuffin!' So you see, a McGuffin is
nothing at all.

Nancy Young wrote:
> "aem" > wrote
>
> > A nerdy blast from the past. In the old DOS - Basic days you could
> > distinguish between the regular whitespace created by the spacebar and
> > the whitespace created by the ASCII code.
>
> Days older than that ... you're thinking of null vs space?
>
Probably, if you say so. I was never a serious programmer, learned
just enough to fool around as part of the 'learn how your new tool
operates' process. I did sneak in once on a weekend just to load a
joke program on my secretary's new pc. It was called "drain," and when
she started the machine up Monday morning it gave her an alarm, said
the disk drive was flooded and that it would drain it, then spun the
drive while making a gurgling sound effect. I thought it was
hilarious. She thought she had broken her magical new toy. -aem

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:03:03 GMT, Reg >
wrote:

>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>else.

Howdy,

Actually, it is "-- " (that is dash-dash-space).

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:03:03 GMT, Reg > wrote:

>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>else.

Wrong. It starts with "-- " (note that it's two hyphens and a space,
not just two hyphens).

serene

On 26 Jan 2006 12:37:09 -0800, "nancree" > rummaged
among random neurons and opined:

>"I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
>please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"

No offense, but could you at least spell my surname right? You have it
as "Bird" in the header and "Byrd" above. It's "Burd." Thank you. BTW,
who said, "Say what you want, just spell my name right"?

Is the following better...?

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

--
"Never argue with an idiot.....they bring you down to their level and
then beat you with experience."

To reply, replace "spaminator" with "cox"

serene wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:03:03 GMT, Reg > wrote:
>
>
>>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>>else.
>
>
> Wrong. It starts with "-- " (note that it's two hyphens and a space,
> not just two hyphens).
>
> serene

As I said before, my newsreader doesn't require the trailing
whitespace. YMMV

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:16:32 GMT, Reg > wrote:

>serene wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:03:03 GMT, Reg > wrote:
>>
>>
>>>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>>>else.
>>
>>
>> Wrong. It starts with "-- " (note that it's two hyphens and a space,
>> not just two hyphens).
>>
>> serene
>
>As I said before, my newsreader doesn't require the trailing
>whitespace. YMMV

I thought you said it puts it in automatically. Regardless, most
newsreaders will set aside a .sig when quoting, if it has a standard
delimiter, with the space, which is what I want to happen.

serene

On Thu 26 Jan 2006 10:43:30p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it serene?

> On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:16:32 GMT, Reg > wrote:
>
>>serene wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:03:03 GMT, Reg > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>A sig delimiter is a line that starts with "--" and contains nothing
>>>>else.
>>>
>>>
>>> Wrong. It starts with "-- " (note that it's two hyphens and a space,
>>> not just two hyphens).
>>>
>>> serene
>>
>>As I said before, my newsreader doesn't require the trailing
>>whitespace. YMMV
>
> I thought you said it puts it in automatically. Regardless, most
> newsreaders will set aside a .sig when quoting, if it has a standard
> delimiter, with the space, which is what I want to happen.
>
> serene
>

I'm sure the method varies with the software. With Xnews, for example, one
only has to create a sig file and point to it in one of the setup screens.
The software generates the delimiter line. There definitely is a character
position following the "--", but I haven't cehcked to determine whether
it's a space or a null.

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

"nancree" > writes:

>While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
>that have been repeated endlessly for years. Sorry, Terry, but I'm so
>tired of your sig

Some newsreaders automatically cut out signatures if they're put after
a delimiter - usually two dashes like -- or something similar. You
might want to check to see if your newsreader has the option.
I understand where you're coming from, but the problem with all these
suggestions about sigs or top posting or triming posts is that,
ultimately, we have no control over it. And once people start telling
others they can't use sigs then they might start telling us how to write
our posts. It's a double-edged sword.

Stacia

In article >,
Terry Pulliam Burd > wrote:

> On 26 Jan 2006 12:37:09 -0800, "nancree" > rummaged
> among random neurons and opined:
>
> >"I know before I post this that this is a losing battle, but could we
> >please, please, please learn to trim posts?" Terry Pulliam Byrd"
>
> No offense, but could you at least spell my surname right? You have it
> as "Bird" in the header and "Byrd" above. It's "Burd." Thank you. BTW,
> who said, "Say what you want, just spell my name right"?
>
> Is the following better...?
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
> AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

ROFL!!!

Go back to the Duncan Hines thing or Harry's going to claim fix-up
rights.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 1-15-2006, RIP Connie Drew

In article .com>,
"nancree" > wrote:
-snip-
> While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
> that have been repeated endlessly for years.
(snip)
> Sorry if I offend, but someone had to say it.

Did you take a poll and get elected to do it?

> Regards,
> Nancree

Nonsense!! Sometimes, though certainly not in Terry's case, the sig is
more interesting than the post.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 1-15-2006, RIP Connie Drew

In article 9>,
Wayne Boatwright <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote:


> I'm sure the method varies with the software. With Xnews, for example, one
> only has to create a sig file and point to it in one of the setup screens.
> The software generates the delimiter line. There definitely is a character
> position following the "--", but I haven't cehcked to determine whether
> it's a space or a null.

My software has a check box. I like that, because I don't have to
remember the delimiter. If I erase my .sig and create a new one, the
delimiter will still be there.

It appears to be a space and not a null. Most text software doesn't
display nulls, only spaces. If you place your cursor well to the right
of the delimiter, you will see a space between the second hyphen and the
cursor.

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA

Glitter Ninja wrote:

> "nancree" > writes:
>
> > While we're on the subject, how about dropping those tiresome "sigs"
> > that have been repeated endlessly for years. Sorry, Terry, but I'm
> > so tired of your sig
>
> Some newsreaders automatically cut out signatures if they're put
> after a delimiter - usually two dashes like -- or something similar.
> You might want to check to see if your newsreader has the option.


XanaNews has the option to put the .sigs in a different font or color.
I have it so they display in a soothing gray color. Visible but
differentiated from "real" text. It probably has an option for leaving
them out altogether, but that's not a concern for me.



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 07:44:22 +0000 (UTC), Glitter Ninja wrote:

> Some newsreaders automatically cut out signatures if they're put after
> a delimiter - usually two dashes like -- or something similar. You
> might want to check to see if your newsreader has the option.

Most news readers have that option, but don't "tell" you about it....
so mere mortals need to learn about it elsewhere because "help"
doesn't do a very good job of informing you about it.
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.