wmartin@brl-vgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (03/17/84)
It looks like most people who include basenotes are using some sort of software or editor that puts a ">" on the left margin of the included passage. So why not put a new comand in the next version of readnews that would IGNORE any line beginning with ">" and not display it to the reader? Then everybody could have the news displayed the way they want! Put the comand at the individual item display command level (where you now type "n<CR>" or "<CR>" to skip or read an item), so the reader can detect a series or group with included basenotes and read or reject them at will. Myself, I usually don't like basenotes -- I can remember enough to know what is being discussed, as long as the subject is informative and the item itself well-written. (Items like "That's right!" don't qualify...) Make the machine do the work -- that's what it is for. Will Martin
woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) (03/19/84)
Some reasons people include the original article in their replies are: 1) People at sites who did not receive the original will know what the hell the author is talking about (after all, the net is not perfect); 2) Sometimes knowing the exact text of the original is critical to understand- ing the reply; 3) Articles sometimes arrive here (a backbone site) many days after the original, and not all of us have memories good enough to remember everything that has been said in a discussion. I favor continued inclusion of passages from the original article. However, I do agree that people often post the whole original when a relevant sentence or paragraph would be sufficient. GREG -- {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!stcvax | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!stcvax} !hao!woods