Re: Time for a new FAQ? [ plus a tiny fraction of my ascii collection... ;) ]

Veronica Karlsson wrote in message <345...@on.spammer>...

>> # (hash/pound): a hash sign on most computers, a pound sign on some
>>     British ones
>
>???
>
>The one above (number 35) comes out like this:
>
> _|__|_
>  |  |
> _|__|_
>  |  |
>
>The pund sign is a completely different, non-standard, character. (am I
>missing something important here, or is Matthew missing something
>important here?)

>

That's odd.  "Hash" and "Pound" are both names for the tic-tac-toe board
character "#".  (In obscure places--at least those obscure around here--you
may see "55 pounds" represented as "55#" (to be differentiated from "#55",
meaning "Number 55").) I seem to remember that odd British curly-L thing
having a different name (which escapes me at present); I could be wrong too,
though.

>> The serif version has little strokes, or serifs, at the end of most of
>> the main strokes, while the sans serif version doesn't (sans means
>> `without'). For example, Courier is a serif font, and Monaco is sans
>> serif. This isn't often important, but if you're using a sans serif
>> font, just remember to use the vertical bar (|, above \ on most
>> keyboards)
>
>(The vertical bar sits on the same button as < and > on _my_ keyboard...
>NOT EVERYBODY ON THE NET IS AMERICAN! OR "ANGLIFIED" IN SOME OTHER WAY!)


He did say "most keyboards". ;)


>> *   What about my first line? Many news and e-mail programs ignore any
>>     spaces you type at the start of the first line of your message, so
>>     if you start your message with the picture, stick a separate line
>>     with some dummy text such as . or -- above it to prevent the first
>>     line of the picture from going out of kilter with the rest of it.
>>

Um. One evil thing about Outlook Express is that it will occasionally take
lines that start with only one space and move them to the left margin for
you.
 i.e. this line *might* (it's unpredictable) look the same
as this line, at least as far as the margin is concerned.  This made me
scream at my signature because had spacing like that.. i had to put it in a
box so it would behave. :(

> Five or six lines is
>> *usually* acceptable, but any longer, and you're starting to take the
>> risk that your signature will be longer than some of your e-mail
>> messages; this wouldn't really be acceptable on paper, so it doesn't
>> really make sense in cyberspace either. The exception is in messages
>> posted to alt.ascii-art -- we're used to seeing long sigs, so we won't
>> complain.

That's what I've always thought of as silly among this group.  "Standard"
(i.e., flameless) .sigs are 4 lines or shorter.  In a.a-a they get longer,
because they're allowed. :)  The goofy part comes when somebody says, "Can I
have a <insert thingy> for my .sig?" and receives many 10 and 12 and
otherwise generally large pics. ;)

BTW That post was 77Kb.. My computer was groaning at me the whole time I was
trying to reply, rofl.

>>BKNambo
r-----------------------------; <-- I made that myself. odd, isn't it?
| \o/  |o \   \ /   / o|  \o/ | It's the amazing dancing ASCII! [ LOL ]
 |  H  -%- -&-  H  -&- -%-  H  | http://come.to/brocks.place -no ascii page
(yet) :(
| / \  |   |o /o\ o|   |  / \ | new...@earthling.net -not afraid of
SPAM. :P
`-----------------------------'