X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,8808011138ca9fd0 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public From: rak@canon.co.uk (Richard Kirk) Subject: Re: ASCII art in signatures Date: 1996/08/15 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 174309903 sender: news@canon.co.uk (USENET News) x-nntp-posting-host: mehitabel organization: Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd newsgroups: alt.ascii-art (Huge argument about whether .sigs should be more than 4 lines omitted) A couple of years ago this same discussion happened on this newsgroup. Your site sysadmin may have a policy of no .sigs over 4 lines, and several newsreaders (including 'nn' which I use) have this as a default limit, but (and that's what's so nice about the net) no-one forces you to do anything. But, as someone on this newsgroup eloquently put it, asking the alt.ascii-art newsgroup about the proper length of .signatures was like 'putting Orson Welles in charge of the Twinkies'. The sensible limit surely comes when your .sig approaches the length of your message. This limit can be stretched if your .signature is original, pretty, or changed often. Another thing to remember is that alt.ascii-art reshapes your head. People who are not ascii-artists may well see your .signature as a meaningless jumble of characters. Obfuscated 'C' programmers may try to compile it. After comments about my signature, I now only use it for this newsgroup. My advice is to think positively about this 4-line thing. Can you fit your .signature into 4 lines? Think of it as a challenge. Anyone can make honkin' great GIF-to-ASCII image, but it takes art to do it in four. ...and remember... Beware of Geeks bearing GIF's. Cheers. adBBba. Ba. A ~VgooodB ,B B. B b ,B" _ S"b B.Bb .dBb .B dBBB. B.aP" _"B. JB.aPb BaP" .B B .JB? B B. B.BBV B B BK. B BP'BCaP' B `YaaP' VBP B B? VB?' B `bd' B "YaaBP B B "Vbaa -- Richard Kirk 01483-448869 (phone) 01483-448845 (fax) Canon Research Europe Ltd, rak@cre.canon.co.uk