Xiaofan Chen wrote:
> This is what I get when I hit reply button when I am using
> Outlook 2k at work.
>
> "-----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu
> Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 2:00 PM
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: Re: [EE] Top-posting, is it really that bad?
>
> This really isn't [EE] at all, so I'm going to stop now unless you move
> it to [OT].  Just not sure if you read [OT], so last reply here.
>
> Nate"
>
> Using RTF or HTML it is still easy to do context posting. Within the
> same company (using the same Outlook 2k across the worldwide subsidary),
> it is actually good to use RTF and to do context posting is still easy
> in this case --> just using a different font color. However we all know
> RTF/HTML
> may not be good for people outside (like those using PINE). With plain
> text, what should I do? Shall I add a ">" at the beginning of every
> line?
>
> Reagrds,
> Xiaofan

You're settings aren't right.  For one thing you're not getting the leading
"> " on each line of replied-to text.  I'm using Outlook Express on Windows
XP right now, and here are all my settings that I think might be relevant:

TOOLS > OPTIONS > READ check "Read all messages in plain text"
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND check "Include message in reply"
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND uncheck "Reply to messages using the format
  in which they were sent"
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND > Mail Sending Format > check Plain Text
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND > Mail Sending Format > Plain Text Settings >
  check MIME
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND > Mail Sending Format > Plain Text Settings >
  Encode text using: None
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND > Mail Sending Format > Plain Text Settings >
  Automatically warp text at 76 characters when sending
TOOLS > OPTIONS > SEND > Mail Sending Format > Plain Text Settings >
  check "Indent the original text with" and select "> " for "when replying
or
  forwarding"

Once you do this you will find it trivially easy to trim the original post
and insert new text wherever you want.  For example, the cursor starts out
in the top left corner.  I would hold down SHIFT and hit down arrow a few
times to delete stuff from the top to the first text I want to repond to.
Let go of shift and hit ALT-E, T.  This deletes the highlighted text.  Now
hit down arrow to go right after the text you want to reply to and start
typing the reply.  After you're last reply, hit SHIFT-CTRL-END, then ALT-E,
T.  This deletes everything after the last character you typed.  This takes
a lot longer to explain than to do, probably less than a second.  Once
you've done it a few times you're fingers will do it automatically.  Really.
Try it.

By the way, the settings above also inhibit HTML, which is really nice for
dealing with spam.  Since the browser is never run on HTML content, links
are not automatically followed and browser holes can't be exploited unless
you actively display the HTML.


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