Mail Formats (was Re: An Elfly Reminder)

[Mrs.) Lee Storm (God is the Healing Force]

[Alla wrote]:
| > Just for everybody else to be aware of - there is not *one* blind
| > list member who uses a screen reader. Of the top of my head I know
| > of probably nine or ten blind list members who **post** and use
| > screen readers.
| 
[Random responded]:
| I meant "here" as in Feedback, which I supposed was significantly
| smaller than the main list or any of the other lists, and that if
| there was anyone else they would have said something. I didn't mean to
| offend anyone regardless

[Lee]:
Well, there are at least two of us, Sherry and myself. :-)  Who knows how
many lurkers abound.

Let me add this to the reasons for attributions and why chevrons don't
always work.

Yes, there are email formats which do not include them.  If I send messages
as HTML format, those little marks are often not present in the response I'm
quoting and replying to.  Sometimes, visually, the text of the quoted
material may be indented, but that doesn't show for those of us who use
screen-readers unless we have a bunch of annoying verbosities turned on.

Either way you slice it, the attributions in a post make it much easier to
deal with.

Let me give you an example of why attribution is essential, important, and
sensible to me:

---------- Begin Sample Post ----------
[HG]:
I know I got the last question on the exam wrong...I just know it!

[HP]:
You worry too much, and I'm just glad the exam is over!

HP

---------- End Sample Post ----------

Now, let's say I've read HG's post; now I see the next post is HP's
response.  I already know what HG said so I use my down-arrow to skip over
HG's quoted material; when I hear "HP" I stop skipping and read.  If I
didn't have the attributions, I would have probably missed what HP said in
response to HG.  Does that make sense?

Visually, one might be able to see indented text, chevrons, etc., but that
little attribution means everything in the world for those who want to
freely skip parts of a post.

Cheers,

Lee :-)

Do not walk behind me,    | Lee Storm
I may not care to lead;   | N2FGC
Do not walk before me,    | n2fgc at ... (or)
I may not care to follow; | n2fgc at ...
Walk beside me, and be my friend.