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

[Jacob Palme <[e-mail]>]

On 4 jan 2016, at 19.33, Hector Santos wrote:

> Jacob, since the 80s, I've written a number mail reader/writers, a.k.a. MUAs, mail tossers, importers/exporters, gateways/mailers, etc for several networks and mail formats where each had its own technical relationship to body parts such as "tear lines" and "Origin" lines, and/or kludge lines.

Standards are mostly optional. Particularly so in what we are discussing now, the "signature" notation at the end of messages. Implementors are usually not forced to agree with them. But implementors doing things that violently disagrees with standards may sometimes get into trouble in that users cannot do what they want with their products. Standards can be an aid to developers of new software, in order to get their products work better with each other.

The "signature" feature is violently disliked by some people. I find it useful when I need more information about the person behind a message I get. Since it is controversial, I have chosen to make my own signature short, and include in it a link to a web page, where people can get more information about me, if they so wish.
--
Professor emeritus Jacob Palme <[e-mail]> (Stockholm University)
for more info see URL: http://www.dsv.su.se/jpalme/