Bob Blick wrote:

>Olin writes:
>  
>
>>It's not their problem.  Everything is working correctly.  The only
>>problem
>>is bozos who insist on sending long lines even though they are not
>>specified
>>to be handled correctly.
>>    
>>
>
>There you go again. There is absolutely no need to call anyone a bozo.
>
>  
>
Ohhh yes there is.

For a social standard to work, someone has to be the bad guy and say
"you're being a bozo". 

And 80 columns is a social standard, RFP's and technical junk
notwithstanding.

Ok, since everyone gets hyperactive if Olin says anything even slightly
negative, I'll say it.  Take the heat off of Olin.

Fact:

Anyone who can't figure out that the vast majority of people word-wrap
e-mail messages at 80 columns (and have for 20 years), and can't find a
mail program that does that correctly...

... is a complete and utter bozo.

The SOCIAL standard is 80 columns and has been for two decades. 

As my grandfather's generation would have phrased it... "Get with the
program!"'  (Quite politically incorrect they were, and they got things
done.)

Squishbag political correctness cops can now all lash out at me.  I'm
pretty comfortable with my position, and think Olin got targeted by Bob
unfairly on this one... bozos are bozos and whether or not someone is a
bozo is determined by the herd. 

If the herd now enjoys 1000-column e-mail lines, then consider me "old
school" and understand that I'll always consider anyone who can't
line-wrap properly... a bozo. 

'Cause I remember when NO mail programs line-wrapped, you had to learn
how to type and that INCLUDED when to hit the Return key (there was no
Enter key then), and a day when everyone agreed collectively on 80
columns... and could do it without a machine helping them press
Return... ya know?  Even when I had a 32-column screen, I learned to
line-wrap MANUALLY at 80-columns so I could not be seen as a BOZO!

If Yahoo Mail can't line-wrap at all, I have even better words than bozo
for the idiot engineer who built THAT web interface.  Any engineer doing
e-mail work on a user interface who doesn't appear to know that the
social standard for line-wrapping is 80 columns it simply derelict in
his duty to write an appropriate mail program consistent with modern
standards and usage... RFP or none.

Nate
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