Once upon a time David Homerick shaped the electrons to say...
This is rather poor reasoning. Bad formatting is usually a software
problem and has nothing to do with the ability to write a good story.
I moderated RAAS/C for several years, alone. Not once was it a problem not
easily resolved. Most editors have a line wrap feature. With others you
just need to size the terminal. And worst case you do it by hand. Make a
row of symbols 75 characters wide or so:
===========================================================================
Now, don't let your text go past the length of the line. When I was a
newbie I didn't know abotu emacs' line wrapping, I did it by hand. On a
100 page story like UF, that takes some time.
If you get an unreadable story, send a polite note to the author telling
him the problem. Chances are he has no idea that anything's wrong.
I always did that as a moderator, and usually they'd thank me and fix it.
But there were always a few that insisted it didn't matter, wasn't worth
the effort, etc. And I'd post it as is - hey, their rep, not mine.
The sad part would be that some of them would write back wanting to know why
they never got feedback. Well, maybe because no one read it.
I've worked online for many years, including work with UI development, and
lately with the W3C on HTML (I helped write the HTML 4.0 spec) and the
accessibility developments. Data formatting is a HUGE part of how something
is perceived - how 'user friendly' it is. That applies to fiction as well
as programs. Anything someone has to read. The better the formatting,
the less work the readers has to do.
Good line wrapping, double-spacing between sentences, indenting paragraphs,
etc. The better formatted, better written a story is, the more transparent
the act of reading is. A great story makes it completely transparent.
The reading itself becomes instinctive, you don't have to *think* about it.
No keeping track of lines, no stumbling over breaks. And the reader becomes
absorbed into the narative, it becomes an immersive experience.
This is something I believe in very strongly, especially after years of
personal experience and working with many others both as an amateur and a
professional.
-MZ