[ietf-822] "--" first in lines to indicate start of signature

[Jacob Palme <[e-mail]>]

A common convention is that e-mail messages contain a short description of the author, called "signature" and the start of this is indicated by a line only containing the two characters "--".

Is this convention recommended or discused in some IETF standard? I cannot find it in rfc5322.

This convention is very commonly used, but somewhat controversial. Some mail program assume that text after a line with only "--" in it are signatures, which are by some mail programs shown, when displaying incoming mail, in a special signature format. And it is a common mistake by message writers to write a line with just "--" in it for other purposes than starting a signature. Every mail writer is not an expert on such e-mail conventions. If IETF describes this convention in some way, IETF should maybe recommend some kind of warning to people who write single lines containing only "--" when this is not start of a signature.
--
Professor emeritus Jacob Palme <[e-mail]> (Stockholm University)
for more info see URL: http://www.dsv.su.se/jpalme/