formatting of messages on this usenet

The formatting on posted messages is really irritating, or maybe I am
the only one bothered? Lines of text have hard breaks at odd places
making the reading bothersome. Anyone know why? (And yes, I have
changed the size of text under "view").

Art Layton
Stamford CT

wrote...
The formatting on posted messages is really irritating, or maybe I am
the only one bothered? Lines of text have hard breaks at odd places
making the reading bothersome. Anyone know why? (And yes, I have
changed the size of text under "view").

The line breaks are automatically set by the *sender's* newsreader, and
additional breaks are added--resulting in the odd breaks you see--when
messages are replied to. For instance, my newsreader is set to format the
line length at 76 characters (including spaces). If a reply to my post is
sent from someone whose formatting sets line lengths at 76 or fewer
characters--or if I am replying to someone sending line lengths of 76 or
more characters--and the quoted material from the original posting is
prefaced with the common " " (adding two characters to the line), then one
original line can turn into two lines.

Odd breaks can also result if you compose a message and, instead of sending
it immediately, save it in your draft folder. The automatic breaks are
already added to this draft copy, so if you later open it and add to it,
more breaks will be inserted when you send the message.


--
Jon Meyers
(To reply, lose
your way)