Doug Murphy wrote:

One question:  Just who do you think you are anyway?  I as a rule don't post
fics as attachments but that means 30 some odd minutes of work fixing tabs
that got turned into spaces by Outlook everytime I post a fic.  I'm 

What on EARTH do you mean? Outlook's an email program right, so what are
you writing in? What could you be doing that takes 30 minutes to fix the
formatting up? 

"tabs turned into spaces by Outlook" implies you're writing in a word
processor - great. Of COURSE the tabs will go away in an email program.
Tabs are 'codes' not symbols; they'll be eaten. You do have to prep your
work a little first. Search on (tab code) [for Word, that's ^t] and
replace with (5 spaces). 

If you're using something that can't do a search & replace on tabs, say,
notepad or the like ... Don't use tabs! Double space instead! You're
only making it harder for yourself.

And while we're on the subject of technique, let's review how to get
word to wrap for you. (Note that Netscape can be made to wrap long lines
for you ... personally I prefer this, it's more reliable IMHO.) 

Select all. Set font & size to Courier New, 12 Point. Save as Text with
Line breaks (new file name recommended). Close file. Confirm you had
wanted it saved as Text w/ Line Breaks. Open file back up (note the � at
the end of every line). Select all. Copy. Go to email program. Paste. 
Voila. You've got a plain text file that's pre-broken at a good line
length, and can even have it indented paragraph style if that's your
preference. (Personally I think block style with an extra line between
paragraphs is easier for online reading but that's just my opinion.)

each individual that we're not aware of that give them good cause to post as
an attachment.

Oh balony. Isn't there a 'no attachments' rule in the FFML FAQ? (I don't
know, I lost my copy.) People are either 1. Lazy or 2. not sufficiently
technically skilled with their computer. Often these are also the people
who don't know what a spell-checker is. (Hey, I admit, I forget to use
it sometimes but there are people who NEVER use the checker!

Don't lay down the swift hand of justice unless you know exactly what you
are talking about, which, in this case, you dont.

Bah. We're not laying down a judgment on high. We're just saying that
we're not going to play the 'read scrambled text' game. If you want me
to read your fic, it has to be cleanly formatted. Reading someone else's
fic & commenting on it is a favor other authors are doing for their
peers. To hand out a fic composed of ten lines that are 500 characters
wide is obnoxious beyond reasonableness. So I think we DO know what
we're talking about.

Nightman
*Happy to be up on the soap box in good company*