TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I am a resident of the America Online ghetto for various reasons (for one
thing, it makes me easier for some people to find). I get TECHWR-L in digest
form. This solves several problems and creates others. Here are a few
observations and suggestions. The reason I am not sending this directly to
the list owner is that I would like to see what other members of the group
think as well.
The one-digest-per-day format is good for reducing my online time and not
cluttering up my "in" box with lots of little files.
On the other hand, the size of an average digest file is somewhat cumbersome.
AOL cannot download large files as mail messages, so it converts them to
text-only files. That wouldn't be a problem, except AOL can't open the whole
file either. I have to open the file with MS Word, and I wind up with lots
of little squares, control characters, etc.
COPYEDITING-L issues several digests per day and has an option where you only
get the "people-friendly" headers. This makes life a great deal easier for
folks like me. Is it possible to adopt this strategy for TECHWR?
In the same vein, I don't get much choice about whether I can read MIME
messages or not. Everything gets dumped into ASCII when I download the
digest. I'm a novice on this matter, so could someone tell me if it's
possible to convert this text back to MIME format?
Happy e-mailing,
Nancy McGuire
nkmcguire -at- aol -dot- com
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