Ok, here I am going to explain it again david, you don't get it ;)
On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 07:59:52AM -0500, David T-G (dis)graced my inbox with:
> % > % who uses email. And we need to devise a way so that when we quote email,
> % > % we quote it with _their_ quote character, not ours. That way we know who
> % > % wrote it, not who's replying to it ;)
^
That % indicates that you wrote what follows it (the next quoted paragraph).
It does not indicate who actually wrote that paragraph.
You see, the problem I am try to solve is that there is no indication of
who wrote the above (quoted) paragraph. Sure we both know that I wrote
it, but what if somebody else reads it? They might not know. Or what if
we forget?
> % > No, no, no... One doesn't quote oneself as one is initially speaking;
> % > someone else quotes you as he or she replies. The character-selection
> % > algorithm is correct as it stands.
^
That > indicates that I wrote what follows it. The only indication of
who wrote that paragraph is the quote character of the _preceding_
paragraph.
The point I'm trying to make is that nobody cares who wrote "the
paragraph that follows this one". What we want to know is who wrote "the
paragraph I am reading right now".
> % No, no, no... you're not understanding what I'm saying.
>
> But I am!
But you aren't!
> % When you reply to a message, every line in the quote starts with a '%'.
> % That means that you're _replying_ to that text, not that you _wrote_ it.
>
> Exactly. And it makes sense for you to not quote yourself (or otherwise
> indicate what's your text) when you first write it, because that's what
> your From: and signature are for.
Obviously you don't quote yourself. That's what I'm saying!
> % Lets use the above quote as an example. One paragraph starts with >, and
> % the other with > %. Lets say, for the sake of argument, that % is your
> % quote character, and > is mine.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When I say "quote character", in this context, I am referring to
everybody's unique quote character that they would have in the
hypothetical system that I am talking about.
> % This raises a problem: I didn't write what is quoted with the >, you
> % didn't. And you didn't write what is quoted with the %, /I/ did!
^^^
Oops. That's "you _did_."
> Exactly.
Yes, exactly.
> % Obviously this system is flawed. It doesn't show us who _wrote_ what, it
>
> Nope. I still disagree.
And you're still wrong ;)
> % order to do this, stuff that _I_ wrote needs to be prefixed with _my_
> % quote character, not the character of the person replying to it.
>
> Now if *this* is what you want, just pump your entire message through a
> filter that prepends '>' or even 'RP>' before sending and you'll have
> quoted your own text *and* you'll look silly -- the email version of
> someone talking (or quoting himself) just to hear himself talk :-)
No, that's not at all what I want. Why would I want to quote myself?
What I'm saying is that when _I_ quote _you_, I use _your_ unique quote
character (%), not mine. When I quote someone else, I use _their_ quote
character. When _you_ quote _me_, you use _my_ quote character (keep in
mind I'm talking about how it should be, not about how it is).
Here is an example situation: Alice, Bob, and Carl are emailing each
other. Alice's unique quote character (uqc from now on) is >, Bob's is
%, and Carl's is |. So if you saw this email:
| > % What's up?
| > Not much
| How's it going?
Not bad!
We know that: Bob wrote the first line, Alice wrote the second, Carl
wrote the third, and whoever wrote the fourth is listed in the From:
header.
Were this situation as email exists now, the above example tells us
that we'll never know who wrote the first line, Bob wrote the second
line, Alice wrote the third line, and Carl wrote the fourth.
Do you see what I mean now?
We don't quote ourselves, but we quote each other. And when we quote
somebody, we use _their_ quote character, not our own.
> % Get it? ;)
>
> We should probably stop this soon :-)
At least we agree on one thing ;)
--
Rob 'Feztaa' Park
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Please send all spam to my main address, root@localhost :-)
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