Subj : Test Reply
To   : apam
From : Accession
Date : Sun Dec 24 2023 08:23 am

Hello apam,

On Sun, 24 Dec 2023 15:27:16 +1000, you wrote:

 >> I did think about doing that (php has utf8_encode() - although that
 a> converts from LATIN-1), but I was concerned how it would appear to CP437
 a> users...

 a> If CP437 users are viewing UTF-8 messages, either their software should
 a> convert the UTF-8 to CP437 or it should look like gibberish.

Most likely will look like gibberish. As you mention, it's much harder to convert from UTF-8 to CP437. While iconv may be able to do it somewhat graciously, most FTN and BBS applications can't. ;)

 a> You could just ignore the sender's kludge and reply with a CP437 kludge,
 a> but then you would have to convert any UTF-8 characters to CP437 (which
 a> isn't so easy as there are far more utf-8 characters than cp437
 a> characters. iconv has the option to transliterate (replace characters
 a> with similar characters in the codeset, and an ignore option to ignore
 a> characters - i use both options, so ignore is the last resort.

I agree here. Why translate? There are far more CP437 users than there are UTF-8 users. Just stick with CP437 on the automated response (which easily translates *to* UTF-8), and don't jump down the never ending wormhole of character set translations if you have better things to do.

 a> It probably isn't really a big issue as it's just box drawing characters
 a> for the headers, but ftn people can be finicky for details ;P

Sorry I opened the can. lol

Regards,
Nick

.... "Take my advice, I don't use it anyway."
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