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Re: Permissions problem - odd setup


On Wed, Feb 22, 2006 at 06:49:26AM -0700, Eric Blake wrote:
> Andrew DeFaria wrote:
> > > -- 
> > > Eric Blake
> > Just a little note here but a proper signature delimiter is two
> > dashes followed by a space. You lack a space.
> 
> And where is that rule written?  I've never seen an RFC from IETF
> recommending that.  However, whether it is '--' or '-- ' inserted is
> up to my mailer, not my .sig.  I'll see if I can work around the
> mailer bug, as you call it, to put a space after the sig separator.
> 
> And next time somebody complains about my signature [hippo comments
> redacted].

It's not simply a matter of "somebody" complaining.  Many mailers
(Thunderbird on Windows, included) will format a signature in an
alternate colour when the correct '-- ' appears so as to delineate the
signature from body text.  Just as importantly, the signature gets
automagically stripped from the quoted text when writing a reply.

So, you see, using a non-standard delimiter can be problematic
irrespective of the existence of an explicit RFC.  Whether this affects
email users to the same extent as certain forms of wildlife, I'll leave
as an exercise to any hippo reading this.

In a perfect world, email would be take the form of written
correspondence, be text only, line lengths would be 74 characters or
less, and appropriate text would be quoted.  Given that's not the case,
it would go a long way to have extraneous noise such as name and contact
information, pithy comments, disclaimers, ascii renderings, unsubscribe
and advertising footers, but no hippos (they couldn't possibly fit)
relegated to a 4-line signature.  Think of it as an environmental issue.

Regards.

-- 
George


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