On Tue, 25 Aug 1998 12:47:11   Trakal wrote:

Word Processor problems I've observed with different systems (its not just line length)

1. The presence of  =# characters in place of  ' or "
   If you have write.exe or any program that allows you to mass-replace characters this 
   little problem is easily correctable.

But is this the writer's job or the readers?

2. Entire stories being replaced with little boxes.
   There is no way in Kainspace that this little problem can be resolved on the 
   recieving end. Since we have no idea what the sender typed and all the little boxes 
   are the same, there's no way of editting them.

Again, the writer should fix this before sending it.

3. Long lines noting text size, font type, etc. (often found in HTML and RICHTEXT  
   messages. Fairly easy to spot and delete, but makes extra work for the reader and
   makes the fic look sloppy.)

Right.  Reading should be pleasure, not work.  That's 
for the author.

4. Fic comes out as 3 lines approximately 255 characters long
   The reader may be able to correct this somewhat by hitting wordwrap, but will often 
lose parts of the fic in doing so.
Lt. Trakal
Operative of the Galaxy Police SIU

No, the fans won't lose parts, they'll lose interest 
and stop reading the story.  The author won't get 
C&C for the fic because it'll be in the trashbin.


Heres' the rub: the reader shouldn't be the one doing 
the work to fix it, that's the writer's job.  Why 
should the readers (anywhere from 1 to 1000) have to 
each fix a problem that could have been solved by 
one person before the story was ever sent?

As a fic reader, which author attitude do you prefer:
"Here's my story, fix it yourself."
"Here's my story, all fixed up nicely for you."
The writer *must* be thinking of the reader when it 
comes time to release the story.

Shunsuke


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