Sig sizes [was:Re: !!! NOT NEW VIRUS ALERT !!!]

In article <RSS...@babylon.coretec.ch> rs...@coretec.ch
(Robin Stephenson) wrote:

>>>> How do you like my new .signature, by the way ?
>>
>>>Not much.  It is two lines over the netiquette approved four line
>>>limit for sigs and lacks the standard sig separator (-- ).  

Please note this, Mickeysoft (sig? wot's a sig?)

>>>I realize that the four line limit is routinely disregarded by
>>>many Dr. Solomon affiliates, and that there is seldom any notice 
>>>taken in here, but there are newsgroups where this is considered 
>>>impolite and will draw unfavourable comment and even flames.

Indeed. I expect long signatures in alt.ascii-art, but I object to them
elsewhere (where they tend to swamp the message; in ascii-art, the sig
often *is* the message, so it doesn't matter).

>>A five- or six-line signature will not draw flames from anybody.  Yes, 

You haven't been to many newsgroups, have you? :-)

>>it's above the standard limit, but those few KB might amount to a few 
>>extra cents a month in storage fees. And the reply separator, as far as

Umm... how much do you download? Download a few hundred articles a night
down a slow modem and it adds up. Not too much, but my bank manager would
like me to avoid spending as much money as possible.

>>I know, doesn't have any specific purpose other than to say 'yes, the
>>following is a signature'.

True, but programs can make use of that.

> Another thing - keep your lines to well under 80 characters.  Your

Agreed, with emphasis. I always have my newsreader configured to 80
columns. I don't have to, but I know a lot of people do have to, so I
think it's only fair to make sure any of *my* postings don't over-wrap.

> .signature wraps off the edge of my 80-character window even before
> it's been quoted.  When it's quoted, it looks worse - see above.  75

However, in any other group it's bad form to quote a signature. I agree,
though.

> characters is the usual maximum, and I use 70. The same applies to
> the lines of your message.

I believe I'd heard 76 (sorry, my sig's too long for your 75 limit). The
point is to allow room to quote what you write. Quoted text, btw, normally
starts '> '; I've removed spaces above so the lines don't get too long.
Just leaving a blank space (as Mr Stephenson did) makes it a bit hard to
see who's talking, but I suppose it doesn't really matter that much. I
tend to aim for shorter lines (than 76 columns) so that they can be quoted
easily (and repeatedly). If the lines you quote are longer than, or (being
polite) near the 80 column limit, it's friendly to reformat them, as I
have above. If you do this, leave plenty of space so that the next person
who quotes them doen't need to repeat the procedure.

>   alt.ascii-art is the place for big (>4 lines) signatures.  Besides,
> ASCII pictures are incredibly tacky.  Oh, and yet another thing, the

Depending on the cirumstances... (posting a picture of yourself in ascii
art in a sig in another news group *is*, however, tacky).

> convention of using -- on a separate line before the signature means
> that I can configure my newsreader (emacs) to remove your signature
> before I see the message.  (Note I still have to download it, so don't

As, indeed, can a number of newsreaders (as standard).

> think this means big ones are OK)

Agreed. My personal philosophy is *absolutely* no sigs longer than 4 lines
in other news groups, up to about 6 lines (7 at a push) in a mail message,
although I only tend to do that if I know the person (and stick to a nice
polite 4 otherwise); I've received messages with sigs longer than a page,
and it's irritating.

Here, you can post what you like, so long as it's interesting, AFAICT.

What I *do* object to is the amount of garbage spewed out by MickeySoft
Exchange; it's not really the fault of the people using it, but the stuff
gets in the way and costs me money to download. But an argument about that
belongs in an advocacy group.

btw, my sig *is* ascii-art, but only after you run it through gcc. Sorry
it's 76 columns, though. I could cut it to 75 by removing the copyright,
but I have my principles. ;-)

-- 
main(c){float x,y=1,s,f;for(;-1<(y-=.1);puts(""))for(x=-2;2>(x+=.05);printf(
"%c","@#MHX]:' "[9>2*(f=4+x*x+y*y)?c=(9+(y+x*2-12)/f*(3-sqrt(9-2*f)))/6.7*16
:y>-.5?8:3*((c=8+x/y)&1^1&(c=400/y))+(s=y*(x*8+y*6+48)+72,s*s/676>8+12*y+y*y
*f?3:4)]));puts("(C) 1996 Andrew Garrard, flu...@fluppet.demon.co.uk");}