FWIW

[Randy Alexander]

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:55 AM, Mark Mandel<thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Randy Alexander
> <strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This has been discussed before on the list a few times.  In a
>> technologically simplified nutshell, it happens because odd characters
>> or formatting are being used in "rich formatting" mode, as opposed to
>> "plain text" mode.
>
> For certain values of "odd",* a calculation which unhappily reminds me
> of Mr. Z's characterization of non-ASCII fonts as "special".

I'm not quite sure how to take that.  ;)

> I found
> myself in the peculiar position of defending him there, as his
> *stated* target is learners as ignorant as he is; but I really don't
> think a professional forum should be so crippled. (No exclusion
> intended of non-professionals.)
>
> * Evidently including whatever followed the first period in that
> paragraph of yours, Randy -- I see a capital A with circumflex after
> "times.".

I smell another variation on Muphry's Law.

>> The simple solution is for users to send posts only in plain text mode.
>
> This is true, as far as it goes. But it is not simple for those of us
> who have to switch our mail programs to Neolithic for this list and
> then back to 21st century for every other addressee. In fact, it is a
> small but unyielding PITA, a never-ending nuisance and time loser. Is
> it not possible -- somehow, some way -- for the UGA systems people to
> make the list compatible with Unicode characters and standard types of
> text formatting?

FWIW, (so to speak,) I just intended on giving a quick and dirty
solution, in no way supporting the idea that there should have to be a
solution in the first place.  If the list software were to be updated
in some way, I would certainly be a fan of that.

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
My Manchu studies blog:
http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org