Re: Not STD C is "not C" ? ----WAS: Re: C to Java Byte Code

From: Michael Wojcik (mwojcik_at_newsguy.com)
Date: 11/03/04 

Date: 3 Nov 2004 18:07:40 GMT

[Dropped two of the four off-topic groups.]

In article <P9%hd.3381$rZ1.522@trndny05>, "Thomas G. Marshall" <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail.com> writes:
>
> Is there a document somewhere which suggests how to form a standard usenet
> quoted reply line? I cannot find it via google.

There are a great many such documents. Probably a majority of them
are Usenet posts. In some cases "suggests" might be too mild a term.

Thus far in this discussion (such as it is), I haven't seen anyone
point out that there is a current set of Internet Drafts looking to
update the Netnews standard (RFC 1036).[1] I shall leave reading and
interpreting them (the "Usenet Best Practices" draft in particular),
and questions of their status and relevance, as a task for the
reader. (I *have* read and interpreted them, for the benefit of
similar discussions in other groups, and found it not the most
rewarding task to which I might dedicate my time.)

I might suggest that anyone (say, Mr Newmane) making bold claims about
applicable "standards" without doing the basic homework to discover
those documents is perhaps not worth listening to on such matters.
(I might also levy criticism against people like Mr MacHonahey, who
insists that one convention is "universal" in Usenet, then in the
same breath complains that it is not universally followed.) But
perhaps my standards are too high.

> Is there someplace that defines (unofficially of course) the guideline for
> it?

Of course. Unofficial definitions abound. Far more interesting, in
my opinion, are attempts at officially defining it - none of which
have yet succeeded, AFAIK.

Somewhat less interesting, but still more useful than the random
stabs of hoi polloi, are the various netiquette and net.usage guides
that touch on the topic. Brendan Kehoe's "Zen and the Art of the
Internet", for example, notes that "many newsreaders" use the "> "
quotation marker, but does not specifically endorse it.

At this point, though, we do not even have a clear consensus, much
less a recognized standard. If "Usenet Best Practices" becomes an
RFC, that will clarify things somewhat, but only somewhat.

1. http://www.ietf.org/ids.by.wg/usefor.html 

-- 
Michael Wojcik                  michael.wojcik@microfocus.com
Push up the bottom with your finger, it will puffy and makes stand up.
 -- instructions for "swan" from an origami kit
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