On Thu Feb 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM GMT, Soren Stoutner wrote:
1. It would be really cool if all MUAs supported format=flowed, but
they don’t, and we shouldn’t require special software to interact with
the Debian mailing lists.
format=flowed gracefully degrades for software which doesn't support it.
That software will simply not reformat the lines, so whatever wrapping
is in the original mail will be preserved. (You will see my text in
*this* mail wrapped at column 72, unless your client supports reflowing
and you've configured a different preference.) As such, recommending
format=flowed does not exclude people using software that doesn't yet
support it.
Currently, the code of conduct for the mailing lists says:
"Wrap your lines at 80 characters or less for ordinary discussion.
Lines longer than 80 characters are acceptable for computer-generated
output (e.g., ls -l).”
https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/
Given the above four points, I propose the line from the code of
conduct quoted above be changed to read:
“There is no expectation that emails sent to the mailing lists are
wrapped by the sender at a particular column, but those sending emails
may wrap them if they choose.”
This is effectively recommending nothing at all. If we were to accept
this change in spirit, I would suggest deleting the existing sentence
and not replacing it with something which basically says nothing. That
keeps the CoC as short as possible.
However, as stated above, since format=flowed gracefully degrades I
don't see a reason why we could not recommend it.
I also wonder whether a lower number than 80 might be a better default
for mobile clients. I haven't conducted any experiments.
--
Please do not CC me for listmail.
👱🏻 Jonathan Dowland
✎ j...@debian.org
🔗 https://jmtd.net
