I recently coded a "robomoderator" to reject attachments, html encoding,
vacation notices, etc. Without much additional thought, I also
programmed the robomoderator to reject any message with any line longer
than 80 characters (excluding headers). To my surprise, this has been
the most common problem "solved" by the robomoderator ... approximately
1 in 30 messages sent to the list have long lines.
I've always believed that a well-behaved email client will wrap long
lines before sending email, on the premise that some email programs
don't have a word wrap feature. I simply assumed it was the _sender's_
obligation to wrap long lines, not the recipient's.
However, upon further research, the internet email protocals clearly
permit line lengths up to 1000 characters (rfc 821). This perhaps
suggests that it's the _recipient's_ job to wrap long lines, not the
sender's.
On the other hand, even if long lines are "legal," that doesn't
necessarily make them "polite." The recipient may not have a word wrap
function, or the recipient's program may break long lines at incorrect
places, impairing legibility. I'm fairly confident that every modern
email program has a word wrap function, so imposing this rule on list
subscribers should not impose a great burden.
At the same time, I hate to see subscriber's messages get bounced,
especially novices, to whom the 80 character limitation may seem
arbitrary and make little sense given modern email clients. (After all,
how many of you know the *original* derivation of the 80 character rule
of thumb? Answer at the end of this email.)
So, without a clear rule to guide me, I'm curious whether other list
managers have a rule/policy on long lines and why. Any input would be
appreciated.
- Matt
(Only half credit if you said that old computer terminals had 80
character screen widths ... full credit if you said that standard
computer punch cards had 80 columns.)
Matthew N. Kleiman * Chicago * Illinois * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Author * Bernese Mountain Dog Home Page * http://www.berner.org/
Administrator * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Berner-L Mailing List
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