Attributions, was RE: Off list

[Bill Ballard]

At 9:55 AM +0100 11/22/02, Isaac OLEG wrote:
>Again one of the particulars of the new software, may be you receive
>posts from the list and from the sender.
>never seen that OFF LIST label myself before.

At 1:49 AM -0800 11/21/02, Susan Kline wrote:
>At 01:22 AM 11/21/2002 -0500, you wrote:

It's the result of email software which can't be bothered to copy the 
specific source of the quote, and simply pastes in a generic "you". I 
spend a certain amount of time back-tracking through threads to 
confirm where a quote came from before even reading replies with 
flakey attributions. To the extent that the software doesn't provide 
better attribution option, it's to blame. But once pasted into the 
post-to-be, the attribution can be corrected manually.

There is a whole menagerie of flakey quote formats, including that 
from Dale Erwin's emailer.

At 1:50 AM -0500 11/22/02, Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 11/20/2002 6:21:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
>mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
>
>         What's this ?Who's recommending it?? I've seen no names.
>          Dale
>
>Now it seems someone is advocating the murder of U.S. Senators. I'm 
>sitting here wondering just what to say. I'm shocked to grossly 
>understate. This is not just off-topic, I believe this is criminal. 
>What do we have to do to get this off the list (at the very minimum)?
>
>Terry Farrell

Notice that Dale's reply is inserted between the attribution and the 
quote. Fortunately, he signs his name. But even that doesn't 
eliminate the possibility that Dale's words were part of the quote 
lifted from Terry's original post (assuming that Terry's software 
might be no better than Dale's). Dale will forgive me for using his 
post as an example, and it's only one of many I could have picked.

Then of course, there's Dan Franklin, who, in true pen-and-paper 
style, simply starts off with the first name of the person he wants 
to talk to . (Excuse me, was that the other Tom/Dick/Harriett, or was 
that my comment you wanted to follow up on? And what did the other 
guy say and when did he say it?) Again not to single out Dan, but 
just to provide an example.

Even with my own emailer (Eudora Pro 4.2), I get nervous because its 
attribution formatting places only one ">" per carriage return. Older 
email software with fixed line lengths will do fine, because each 
line will have its own CR, but fancier software (witness Terry's) 
will end up with only one ">" per paragraph. This can get confusing 
when quoting an author who writes in long paragraphs.

Say wha.......?

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"I'll play it and tell you what it is later...."
     ...........Miles Davis
+++++++++++++++++++++