No tabs in post PLEASE!!! (was Re: partial list sort)

[jsaul]

* Terry Reedy [2002-10-10 17:59]:
> Somewhat tongue in cheek, I wrote
> > >> > > Tabs are bad for Usenet posting if you want stupid people
> like me who
> > >> > > use Outlook Express to read posted code.
>
> >I've seen
> > a constant push, for years, by recipients using broken software,
> asking the
> > whole planet to be polite and help them cope with their
> brokenedness.  That
> > push should be considered unwelcome, and politeness is misplaced
> here.
>
> Since I started this subthread, please note that I did *not* push (and
> intentionally so).  I simply informed the OP that *if* he wanted me to
> read his code without having to guess at indentation, then he should
> avoid tabs.  Since I had provided him, free of charge, two solutions
> to his problem, he wrote back that he would try to do so (avoid) in
> the future.

I fully support your point of view that tabs should be avoided.
Actually I did convert my article prior to posting (pasting from
one xterm to another converts tabs to spaces) but later I decided
to indent the code by another 4 spaces, causing the editor to
again make one tab out of 8 leading spaces. Then I too hastily
submitted the posting...

But since you criticize improper formatting, look at how your own
newsreader emulation mangles other postings. This becomes somewhat
annoying for people like me who use a newsreader that colors the
text according to the quotation level.

Gruß, jsaul
-- 
Que le gusta rrrodarrr la errre.