MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MEETING ON 1st June
We were supposed to be looking at some of the so-called standard features of the Windows OS, and it was this for which I had prepared. However, those attending had other ideas, and we spent the entire meeting looking at the Becky mailer. The question of how to format posts arose. We'll look at this in more detail next week, but in the meantime the best I can do is to repeat the information I posted last week, which I do below. You can also read about it http://www.usenet.org . A particularly good page, explaining not only how to post but why the approved way is best is at http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/nquote.html
The only other topic of note was alternative "office" suites to Microsoft Office. Whilst I don't look on Office with the same disdain as that I have for OE, it is still very expensive for what it is. Two freeware alternatives are 602 PC Suite, which is a free Microsoft Office clone, and Open Office, which is the breakaway freeware organisation now that Sun have decided to make the previously free Star Office payware.
You can find out about PC Suite from:
http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/
and the site for Open Office is:
I have a copy of both of these programs on my computer; if you would like me to "burn" you a CD containing either or both of them, all you need to do is to send me an e-mail.
Now, if you wish to use Outlook Express, here's how best to set it up to avoid viruses and complaints from old timers like me:
In views - layout, make sure use of the preview pane is NOT checked.
In Options - General. don't check any of the top block of boxes. In Options - Read, do NOT check "automatically download message when viewing in preview pane". In Options - Send, check "include the original message in reply" and uncheck "send reply to messages in the same format as they were sent". Make the default format for both E-mail and News Plain Text. Under plain text settings, make the message sending format Mime, encode text using None. Automatically wrap at 72 (or 76) characters when sending, and check indent the original text with >. In compose, don't use Stationery or Business Cards.
Here's the basics of formatting replies.
(1) When posting, put your name and e-mail address at the end of the
post. It makes it easier for somebody to reply to you off the
group.
(2) When posting, limit your line length to 72 characters, or at most
76. This means your post can be read by any e-mail client
without reformatting.
(3) When replying, put your reply AFTER the portion of the original
message to which you are replying, and ONLY include as much of
the original as is necessary to make your context clear. When
replying to a long message, it is best to interlace quote and
reply. Make it clear who is saying
what by a line such as "On 3rd June, Josephine Bloggs said",
and by using an accepted citation prefix at the beginning of
each quoted line. A greater than sign (>) is by far the most
commonly used. Putting your reply before the original message,
and quoting the whole of the original, is known as top posting
"upside down posting" or posting "OE style" and makes it very
difficult to work out who said what and when in long threads.
TOP POSTING IS VERY MUCH FROWNED UPON
(4) When replying, only quote as much of the original message(s) as is
necessary to make sense of your own comments. Except when an
original is very short, make your reply a series of quote -
reply sections.
(5) On the other hand, snipping others' posts to change the meaning is
VERY much frowned upon.
(6) There is no need to make a post just to say "thank you" (do that by
private e-mail) or "I agree" (try to add something to the
thread rather than just agreeing).
Links for Becky can be found here
Finally, a reminder of my e-mail addresses:
billnot@billnot.com for general mail
questions@billnot.com for questions to be answered in the Grapevine or at a session.