>> <bbtools.thelinuxcommunity.org>. > >Exactly /which/ reason?
The reason that some mail/news readers that try to automatically identify URLs often screw up. >I think that usage is deprecated, just like http:// and www. Yes, they can just as easily be inferred by the human reader. However, the same early email clients I mentioned might not be able to "link-ify" URLs like this. Without the protocol or the common "www." the pattern might not match. But this is less of a concern because automatic "link-ification" is an unnecessary convenience. Trying to "link-ify" and then getting it wrong is a nuisance/bug. >I believe modern usage is for langle and rangle to be a tag >container. With the rise of HTML and even XML pervading every >aspect of modern computing I would assert that the modern form >for what you wish would be: > ><URL>bbtools.thelinuxcommunity.org</URL> Yes, they serve as tag delimiters in XML-type markups. But plain text emails (don't get me started on the travesty that is HTML email) don't have that usage. It's been standard usage for some years now to delimit URLs with angle brackets to "help out" those early, broken mail/news clients. It would have worked just as well with curly braces instead, but I suppose since angle brackets looked more web-like and in plain text there was no character conflict, they became the de facto standard. Tim -- Tim Larson <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< Info. Services - Internal Medicine Clinical Systems, Mayo Clinic, Rochester September 17 is Constitution Day. Have you read it lately?
