[FFML] A thought on the future of the FFML

[Adrian Tymes]

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 8:46 AM, The Wanderer <wanderer at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> On 06/26/2013 11:38 AM, Adrian Tymes wrote:
>
>  On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 8:30 AM, The Wanderer <wanderer at fastmail.fm>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  The quoting styles which are appropriate in a context where more
>>> than one post is visible at once (such as is done on probably the
>>> vast majority of Web forums) are not appropriate in a context where
>>> only one post is visible at once (such as happens in E-mail), and
>>> vice versa.
>>>
>>
>> I'm seeing this entire thread in one page.  It does not change the
>> appropriate quoting style.
>>
>
> Are you using the Gmail Web interface?
>

At this second, yes.  It is also how GMail on Android presents
conversations.


> I think that may be the only client that does that. It's one of the
> several interface decisions made about Gmail that I disagree with.


I know there exist many others.  I believe it is the standard for Web
and smartphone mail interfaces, though I could be mistaken.


> If the email presentation style depends on the user's client, that
>> would be an argument for making the Web forum have a user account
>> setting to display one post per page or to display all the posts in
>> one page - again, so that the presentation can be just like in email.
>>
>
> The trouble with that is that it would lead to different people using
> different quoting styles, based on what they see. (This might happen
> anyway if the interface that you're seeing is relatively common, but
> it's still what I'm trying to avoid.)


Again, the interface that I'm seeing does not change the appropriate
quoting style.  Even if I see the entire thread in one page, each post
is still clearly a post, and I should quote the relevant sections of it
when replying.  Notice that I am doing so now, despite seeing the
entire thread in one page.

It would seem simple to have the Web view only allow quoting a
post as a way of starting a reply - no "quick reply" or the like - and
to reject a post that did not quote any lines, or that quoted more
lines than new content (or perhaps more than twice as much, for
cases where one replies to a long paragraph with a short comment
such as "that was too long: break it when you change who's
speaking").


> It is my personal opinion that HTML E-mail should never have been
> invented, and should never be used. That doesn't change the fact that
> it's widely supported and is the de-facto standard in most places.
>

Yeah, and that's the problem.  We're talking about the FFML in
2013.  Still, there seem to be ways to celebrate text while
accommodating modern sensibilities - if we apply more design
sense than most who set up forums do.
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