Nonconforming newsreaders (was Dad's Army in HD)
 

In message , Martin
writes
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014 19:55:12 +0000, Ian Jackson
wrote:

In message , Woody
writes
"Ian Jackson" wrote
in message ...
In message ,
Roderick Stewart writes
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:21:04 -0000, "David"
wrote:







It is difficult to please all the people all the time.
So it might help more when the two dashes appear, they do
not on yours, I
delete those too as well as the signature to help Martin.

You could always investigate the use of other newsreaders.
Microsoft
isn't the only fish in the pond. There are plenty to
choose from.

When replying, Outlook Express automatically places the
cursor at the top (with no option of changing it).
[snip]

I'm using OE and it places the cursor at the bottom by
default - but don't ask me how I set it to do that.


You're a genius!

I've just taken my OE6 out of mothballs, and subscribed to a test NG.

I sent myself a test post (using my usual Turnpike), and opened the
incoming post using OE. From what I can see, there isn't a default
position for the cursor. In fact, it doesn't actually appear on the
reply, so you have to place it manually (anywhere you want). This is
unlike when replying to e-mails, where the cursor is at the top. In
neither e-mails nor NGs can I find anything obvious where you have an
option to set where the cursor goes.

Agent doesn't have a default position either.

One of the most irritating things I know is answering a list of
questions with a
mail tool that only allows top posting.

If you're responding to a list of points (beneath each in turn), surely
it doesn't really matter where the default position is, as you're going
to have to place it manually?
--
Ian

Nonconforming newsreaders (was Dad's Army in HD)
 

Alan White wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jan 2014 16:45:06 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

I'm using Agent 4.2, and the default cursor position seems to be
at the beginning of the first line, having added it.

Yes, but you can move it down.

Indeed you can, which is how I'm writing here. :-)

However, you snipped what the OP Martin wrote:

Agent doesn't have a default position either.

Which I was explaining was not my experience.

In no way was I suggesting anything other than correctly bottom
posting.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Nonconforming newsreaders (was Dad's Army in HD)
 

On Wed, 15 Jan 2014 09:17:10 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

In no way was I suggesting anything other than correctly bottom
posting.

I didn't think you were, I was just commenting to clarify it for others.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
By Loch Long, twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.co.uk/weather

Nonconforming newsreaders (was Dad's Army in HD)
 

On Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:24:11 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Wed, 15 Jan 2014 09:17:10 +0000, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Alan White wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jan 2014 16:45:06 +0000, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

I'm using Agent 4.2, and the default cursor position seems to be
at the beginning of the first line, having added it.

That's certainly true of the free version I'm using here (I had to
locate the cursor first before moving it to this point but I know
exactly where it will be at the start of _every_ reply I make so it
wasn't too dificult.


Yes, but you can move it down.

That you can. That's the major distinction between OE and a compliant
news reader, total freedom to move the text insert cursor to anywhere
you like, including amongst the quoted text.


Indeed you can, which is how I'm writing here. :-)

However, you snipped what the OP Martin wrote:

Yes and I was wrong. The current version of Agent also positions the cursor at
the beginning of the first line. Mea culpa.

That's not the issue. I suspect it's a standard default location for
all compliant news readers. The important distinction is that the sig
lines be placed below the quoted text so that you can insert your
reply anywhere above the sig line rather than have the sig line fixed
to the bottom of the quoted text area which is treated as a non
editable block.

I guess the real problem is that the quoted text is treated as being
protected against changes in order to prevent malicious manipulation,
compounded by including the sig lines as part of this protected block
of text.



Agent doesn't have a default position either.

Apparently not true.


Which I was explaining was not my experience.

In no way was I suggesting anything other than correctly bottom
posting.

With compliant news readers, you have the freedom to do both and, not
only that, interleave your replying text amongst the quoted text as I
have done here.

Since that is the case, the initial cursor position is otherwise
undefined and can be set to an arbitary default location. It seems
most news reader developers have taken the sensible decision to place
it at the very beginning of the reply page regardless of whether or
not you'd elected to include quoted text.

A fixed location at the top left of the reply pane means you can
locate it immediately in order to move it to wherever you wish to
insert your own comments or reply allowing you the choice of top,
bottom or interleaved posting.
--
Regards, J B Good

Nonconforming newsreaders (was Dad's Army in HD)
 

In message , Johny B Good
writes



A fixed location at the top left of the reply pane means you can
locate it immediately in order to move it to wherever you wish to
insert your own comments or reply allowing you the choice of top,
bottom or interleaved posting.

The main advantage of having a default top left location is that you
know it's always wrong for NGs - so you'll have to move it!
--
Ian