tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 11 23:50:46 2003
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Plain text messages and quoting
On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 17:24:52 -0500, "Scott Willis"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Philip Newton" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 3:23 PM
> Subject: Re: tagh'a jIlIH'egh
>
>
> On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 07:54:37 -0500, "Scott Willis"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > batlh *English* Hol Dajatlhbej
>
> (Incidentally, isn't the usual term {DIvI' Hol} for "English" [the
> language]?)
>
> bIlugh.
Incidentally, something I've noticed before but that may be more
important now that you're Beginner's Grammarian:
In this message, and in others, it was impossible to tell what I said
and what you said.
I said the paragraph starting 'Incidentally' and you said 'bIlugh', but
there aren't any quote marks or '> ' or anything else to separate or
distinguish the two.
I imagine you're using some kind of rich text markup such as HTML and
that it may be clear for you (perhaps a vertical line next to a
quotation, or a different colour background, or something); however, the
only thing that arrives at this end is the plain-text representation. I
presume that the mailing list software strips and HTML or similar
portions of a message.
So, please make it a habit to quote previous messages with "> " or ">"
or even ": " or something; just, anything to make it clear who said
what. Please. Or I may end up ignoring your messages; it's simply too
difficult to work this out every time, and I feel (personally) that the
convenience on your part doesn't make up for the difficulty on the
readers' part. (Though I'm grateful already that you commented *below*
the text you were referring to; even though it makes it harder to tell
where I left off and you began, at least your comment comes visually
after my text just as it came chronologically after.)
I saw this sort of thing as well, for example, when you replied to the
announcement that you are the new BG; I was wondering whether you had
added anything of your own to Holtej's message since it was difficult to
tell where he left off and you began.
Had you wished to refer to multiple parts of his posting, putting your
comments after each part as is common in some places, the confusion
would have been even greater since people would have to remember what
the original person said in order to distinguish it from your comments.
Philip
![[KLI Member]](/pics/KLImemberbutton.gif "[KLI Member]"){kind=small}