dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (07/20/83)
I really dislike the recent trend of putting eight-line signatures,
with addresses through every conceivable machine and on every
conceivable network, at the end of every article people post.
Surely most people have access to some path finding program like
nmail these days. I usually read news at 1200 baud, and it's a royal
pain to wade through the signature when it's longer than the article
itself (and I've already seen the same signature 100 times).
May I make two suggestions:
1. Do not give all kinds of paths unless it's important that people
be able to reach you in reply to that article. If you're asking for
information, fine; but not if you're just adding your three-line
two-cents' worth to an ongoing discussion.
2. I would much rather see the name of the organization and/or city you
are in than all the rest of the drivel. With the proliferation of sites
I now often have no idea what part of the world people are in. I would
prefer "Joe Smith, Denver" to "Joe Smith, {thismachine, thatmachine,
someothermachine}!foo!bar!joe". If I want the path, I can always get
it off the news headers anyway. Unless you're running 2.10 and all
the information automatically goes into the header, the two things
I won't get any other way are (1) who you are, and (2) where you
are (and I don't mean where uucp can find you!).
If 2.10 puts all that stuff in for you anyway, the best signature
to add to your message is CONTROL-D.
Dave Sherman
Torontospaf@gatech.UUCP (07/21/83)
We had this discussion a few months ago. Part of the problem
(if it is a problem for more than a few people) is that
"postnews" automatically includes the contents of ~/.signature
in any article one may post. For those of us who use machines
connected to more than one network this can pose a slight
problem since software for communication on those other
networks also use the file ~/.signature for information.
I include all 3 of my network addresses in my .signature file,
along with a "signature" which is used by CSNet MMDF (that's
the stuff about the "soapbox"). I used to include my US Mail
address, but cut that out due to the fact that no one on the
net is likely to send me US snail. If anyone can come up with
a compact and esthetically pleasing way of shortening my
.signature file *without* loss of information, I would be
more than happy to entertain the suggestion.
I read most of my news at 300 baud while I'm having my morning
coffee and attempting to steel myself to the day ahead.
I spend more time reading stupid articles, and articles whose
title doesn't match the contents, or whose title is
"orphaned response" or "none" than I do reading signatures.
I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
Still,
--
"The soapbox of Gene Spafford"
CSNet: Spaf @ GATech
Internet: Spaf.GATech @ UDel-Relay
uucp: ...!{sb1,allegra}!gatech!spaf
...!duke!mcnc!msdc!gatech!spafmark@cbosgd.UUCP (07/24/83)
The .signature file is included WITH a distinguishing mark, with the plan that eventually readnews will have an option to suppress marked signatures. If you are that upset about having to read them, implement such an option now, and post it to the net.