"Old McDonald has turned his farm into a massive corporation; he's
the E-I-CEO."
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5 IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you are
replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up. In the
above example you make it look like I posted a "Old McDonald" pun; I did
not; I posted a Pole vs a pole pun. In this case, there is no harm. This thread is just for fun.
But there is a big "however". When one botches a serious conversation in
this manner, tempers may fly, accusations may follow, and everything bad about USENET gets stirred up.
On 2/11/2025 3:58 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 09:35, Jeff Barnett wrote:
"Old McDonald has turned his farm into a massive corporation; he's
the E-I-CEO."
Old MacDonald had an interface: EIA I/O.
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you are
replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up. In the
above example you make it look like I posted a "Old McDonald" pun; I did
not; I posted a Pole vs a pole pun. In this case, there is no harm. This thread is just for fun.
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5 IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
On 12/02/25 18:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
On 2/11/2025 3:58 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 09:35, Jeff Barnett wrote:
"Old McDonald has turned his farm into a massive corporation; he's
the E-I-CEO."
Old MacDonald had an interface: EIA I/O.
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you are
replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up. In the
above example you make it look like I posted a "Old McDonald" pun; I did not; I posted a Pole vs a pole pun. In this case, there is no harm. This thread is just for fun.
Sorry. I see now what went wrong. Quoting Hen Hanna carries risks.
On 12/02/25 18:59, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about
attributions, but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl
cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0
aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo
ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2
ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h
c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg
R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t
IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
It's base64 encoding. For some reason your newsreader failed to
decode it.
On 12/02/2025 09:56, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 18:59, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl >>> cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 >>> aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo >>> ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 >>> ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h >>> c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg >>> R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t >>> IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
It's base64 encoding. For some reason your newsreader failed to decode
it.
I see no reason why it should be obliged to. If English is good enough
for the rest of us, why will it not do for Mr Barnett?
Richard Heathfield hat am 12.02.2025 um 11:20 geschrieben:
On 12/02/2025 09:56, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 18:59, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, but >>>> what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl >>>> cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 >>>> aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo >>>> ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 >>>> ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h >>>> c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg >>>> R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t >>>> IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
It's base64 encoding. For some reason your newsreader failed to decode
it.
I see no reason why it should be obliged to. If English is good enough
for the rest of us, why will it not do for Mr Barnett?
At least Peter and me* - probably most readers of these NGs - got that
in plain English. I'm afraid the problem is on your side, as Peter
suggested.
Or "Peter and I"? I believe there was a discussion in AUE a short time
ago, but I can't remember the details.
On 12/02/2025 11:18, Silvano wrote:
Richard Heathfield hat am 12.02.2025 um 11:20 geschrieben:
On 12/02/2025 09:56, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 18:59, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions,
but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl >>>>>
cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 >>>>>
aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo >>>>>
ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 >>>>>
ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h >>>>>
c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg >>>>>
R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t >>>>>
IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
It's base64 encoding. For some reason your newsreader failed to decode >>>> it.
I see no reason why it should be obliged to. If English is good enough
for the rest of us, why will it not do for Mr Barnett?
At least Peter and me* - probably most readers of these NGs - got that
in plain English. I'm afraid the problem is on your side, as Peter
suggested.
The "problem" manifests itself when one inspects the article's source
with the intent of verifying who said what, who quoted what, and so on.
Try it yourself by all means, or does your news reader's "show source" function show something different?
Richard Heathfield hat am 12.02.2025 um 12:32 geschrieben:
On 12/02/2025 11:18, Silvano wrote:
Richard Heathfield hat am 12.02.2025 um 11:20 geschrieben:
On 12/02/2025 09:56, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 12/02/25 18:59, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, >>>>>> but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl >>>>>>
cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 >>>>>>
aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo >>>>>>
ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 >>>>>>
ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h >>>>>>
c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg >>>>>>
R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t >>>>>>
IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
It's base64 encoding. For some reason your newsreader failed to decode >>>>> it.
I see no reason why it should be obliged to. If English is good enough >>>> for the rest of us, why will it not do for Mr Barnett?
At least Peter and me* - probably most readers of these NGs - got that
in plain English. I'm afraid the problem is on your side, as Peter
suggested.
The "problem" manifests itself when one inspects the article's source
with the intent of verifying who said what, who quoted what, and so on.
Try it yourself by all means, or does your news reader's "show source"
function show something different?
Yes. When I click Nachrichten-Quelltext (literally: Message source,
probably what your programme calls "Show source"), my old Thunderbird
shows at the end the text in English.
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about attributions, but
what you *actually* wrote appears in my newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0 aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2 ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5 IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
On 2/12/2025 12:59 AM, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about
attributions, but what you *actually* wrote appears in my
newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl
cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0
aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo
ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2
ZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h
c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIg
R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t
IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at home?
My news client is Mozilla Thunderbird and has been for years.I've
had newsgroup dialogues with others all over the world during
this time and not seen or heard of the problem you are having.
On 13/02/25 09:37, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 22:05, Jeff Barnett wrote:
My news client is Mozilla Thunderbird and has been for
years.I've had newsgroup dialogues with others all over
the world during this time and not seen or heard of the
problem you are having.
You know what? You're right. Forget I ever mentioned it.
Your newsreader is *not* spewing base64 all over Usenet
without your knowledge, and clearly I was just inventing the
whole thing.
Yeah, that works.
Using Base64 for e-mail or Usenet is effectively obsolete
(although it has other uses, e.g. providing a standard format
for storing encryption keys). It was introduced long ago as a
means of sending binary attachments on channels that could
only handle 7-bit ASCII. By now the entire internet seems to
be 8-bit clean, allowing us to use things like SSL/TLS and
UTF-8 without special encoding.
However, googling shows that a bug was introduced in
Thunderbird version 45, which turned plain text into Base64. I
don't know whether a later version fixed this, because I
prefer a much earlier version of Thunderbird.
There is a know
fix, which can also be found by googling, but it takes you
through the "this could void your warranty" section, so not
everyone will be willing to apply the fix.
On 12/02/2025 22:05, Jeff Barnett wrote:cnkgbGFzdCBvbmUuLi4gYW5kwqAgdGhpcyBsaXN0IChhdCB0aGUgZW5kKSBzdWdnZXN0cyB0
On 2/12/2025 12:59 AM, Richard Heathfield wrote:
On 12/02/2025 07:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
<snip>
Jeff, I understand that you are (rightly) upset about
attributions, but what you *actually* wrote appears in my
newsreader as:
T24gMi8xMS8yMDI1IDI6MTAgUE0sIEhlbkhhbm5hIHdyb3RlOg0KPiBJIGxpa2UgdGhlIHZl >>>
ZSBCRVNUIHB1bnPCoCBhbW9uZyB0aGXCoCBsZWFzdCANCj4gc2V4dWFsICwgc3VnZ2VzdGl2aGF0IHRoZQ0KPiBwb2ludCBvZiB0aGlzIGNvbnRlc3TCoCBtYXkgYmXCoCB0byBmaW5kIHRo >>>
c3NpdmUgYXNoISINCg0KT25lIG9mIG15IGZhdm9yaXRlczogV2hvIHdhcyBBbGV4YW5kZXIgZSAsIG9yI[...] etc etc [...]bj8gTm9ib2R5
IHdvdWxkIGhhdmUNCj4gaGVhcmQgb2YgdGhlbSBpZiBpdCB3YXNuJ3QgZm9yIHRoZWlyIG1h >>>
IA0KSmVmZiBCYXJuZXR0DQoNCg==R3JhaGFtIEJlbGxza2k/IEhlIHdhcyB0aGUgZmlyc3QgDQp0ZWxlcGhvbmUgcG9sZSENCi0t >>>
and what the bloody hell is that supposed to be when it's at
home?
My news client is Mozilla Thunderbird and has been for years.I've
had newsgroup dialogues with others all over the world during this
time and not seen or heard of the problem you are having.
You know what? You're right. Forget I ever mentioned it. Your
newsreader is *not* spewing base64 all over Usenet without your
knowledge, and clearly I was just inventing the whole thing.
Yeah, that works.
On 12/02/2025 08:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>>
<snip>
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you are
replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up. In the
above example you make it look like I posted a "Old McDonald" pun; I did
not; I posted a Pole vs a pole pun. In this case, there is no harm. This
thread is just for fun.
Just before you get down from your high horse, did it occur to you that
the original post (by the clucking Hen) - to which you replied - was a recycling of the thread I started in AUE titled 'Puns'? I do not see any attribution to me in the new thread.
Take it easy mate. It is just a discussion group. No post is that
important - particularly not your racist pun about Poles.
But there is a big "however". When one botches a serious conversation in
this manner, tempers may fly, accusations may follow, and everything bad
about USENET gets stirred up.
My example pun, pruned by the time I saw your reply, was
Who was Alexander Graham Bellski? He was the first telephone pole!
In fact, if I tried to understand it using Freud's "Humor and
It's Relation to the Unconscious" as guidance, I'd say the humor
is the fact that the question prepares the listener for some sort
of racist or other derogatory remark but the punch line
completely misses those expectations.
I usually don't make that mistake. However, I was concentrating
more on not directly calling occam an asshole. So I was proofing-before-sending for tone more than language.
On 12/02/2025 08:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you
are replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up.
In the
What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim
properly.
....and why did I come here for in the first place?What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim properly.
Huh? Who said that?
Ah, yes, I remember now - I wanted to know who Peter M. thinks "There's
only one case of obvious dementia among the regulars here [in AUE]"?
What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim properly.
Huh? Who said that?
...and why did I come here for in the first place?What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim
properly.
Huh? Who said that?
Ah, yes, I remember now - I wanted to know who Peter M. thinks
"There's only one case of obvious dementia among the regulars here
[in AUE]"?
What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim properly.
Huh? Who said that?
...and why did I come here for in the first place?
Ah, yes, I remember now - I wanted to know who Peter M. thinks "There's
only one case of obvious dementia among the regulars here [in AUE]"?
On 19/02/25 20:35, occam wrote:
...and why did I come here for in the first place?What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim
properly.
Huh? Who said that?
Ah, yes, I remember now - I wanted to know who Peter M. thinks
"There's only one case of obvious dementia among the regulars here
[in AUE]"?
I see that Arindam responded to that, but he wasn't the one I had in
mind. He's deluded in a very focused way, arising from his passion to
prove Einstein wrong.
I'd give the award to the clucking hen.
On 12/02/2025 08:07, Jeff Barnett wrote:
Peter, if you are going to edit the messages (plural) that you
are replying to, make sure the attributions don't get screwed up.
In the
I'm glad I found that, because it saves me from misquoting. I remembered
it as "if you must edit the messages ...", but it's a milder wording. In
any case, this is nothing to do with Jeff Barnett, except that it
reminded me of something that I had intended to write about anyway.
Must I edit what I quote? Yes, I must, because that's what the accepted
rules say. It's always been considered rude to quote a lot of
material and then add a line or two at the end, forcing people to scroll
to find the response. Way back in the early days of Usenet, you couldn't
get news access until you had read the introductory documents, and some
of those reminded you of the niceties of posting. This all fell apart
when AOL and Eternal September (the date, not the news server) arrived. Still, most experienced Usenet users remember the basics of good posting habits.
The most basic rule is "don't irritate or bore your readers". That one's
not written down, but any good writer understands it.
The rule that used to be written down was something like "quote what
you're responding to, and a little more if needed to establish the
context; but no more than that". Responsible trimming is kind to the reader.
What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim properly.
The culprits aren't trolls, because we've had few trolls since Google
Groups suicided. I'm talking about Respected Regulars.
Why? I suspect the effect of ageing. There's only one case of obvious dementia among the regulars here,
I think the trend was
started by Microsoft, who think that it's their job to make the rules.
The rule that used to be written down was something like "quote what
you're responding to, and a little more if needed to establish the
context; but no more than that". Responsible trimming is kind to the reader.
What I've noticed in AUE lately is that very few posters trim properly.
The culprits aren't trolls, because we've had few trolls since Google
Groups suicided. I'm talking about Respected Regulars.
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