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From: levine@ics.uci.edu (David Levine)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Filler lines
Summary: Summary of discussion
Keywords: filler, fodder, citation
Message-ID: <21625@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Date: 25 Aug 89 16:25:49 GMT
Sender: news@paris.ics.uci.edu
Lines: 24


Summary of responses to my original question:
   Why is adding filler lines worse than changing the citation character?

Suggested possibilities:
1) wastes bits,
2) not as easy to figure out how many filler lines are needed,
3) makes printing difficult,
4) more obnoxious to read,
5) some people look at the number of lines when determining whether or
   not to read a posting, and filler lines can throw that off.

These trade-off against sticking with the default citation character ('>'):
1) it's easier,
2) you don't have to worry about mucking up other appearances of it, like
   in References,
3) some people look for the default citation character when determining
   whether or not to read a posting.

There is an easy way to avoid the issue with rn; use the -F option to
change your citation character.
--
David L. Levine         levine@ics.uci.edu   or   uci-ics!levine
Dept. of ICS; University of California, Irvine; Irvine, CA 92717