Fernando's massive sig(now off-topic but in-thread)

[Bart Silverstrim]

Brian Fahrlander wrote:
> Bart Silverstrim wrote:
>> Chris wrote:
> 
>>> Well said Brian! Take the high road!
>> Everyone! Standardize on this format for sigs!
>>
>> Makes it easier to create a filter to strip it out of text mail...
> 
>    Uhm...wasn't that the idea from the ancient RFCs?
> 
>    Why is it that people in the computer industry feel the need to be 
> obnoxious at the drop of a hat?  I don't _remember_ making an effort to 
> offend you...

Wow, I didn't intend for it to be a flame at you.  I meant it as an 
honest yet sarcastic way of saying that if people stuck to the 
standards, you wouldn't have people getting bent out of shape because of 
people thumbing their noses at "standards" and a simple filter could be 
implemented for manipulating information into a format that is suited 
for YOUR personal preference without imposing things on everyone else on 
the crowd.  I thought that the two lines would summarize that a lot more 
easily than this long-winded explanation.  But if you want to take it as 
a personal attack, I can't really stop you.

If you're honestly asking that question about being obnoxious so 
quickly, I would venture the guess that among those in the fraternity of 
IT we see the same godd@!#%!ed problems over and over and over and we've 
griped and grumbled and accommodated for the same things so many times 
that we take it for granted that everyone in our little fraternity would 
  understand why one of us snaps and vents about an issue we've BEEN 
reiterating as a problem or irritation. I mean, why are people so quick 
to dismiss best a standard formatting or standard?  Isn't that the 
reason they exist in the FIRST PLACE?  Instead, we have people 
constantly ignoring the idea that instead of imposing whatever I like at 
the source on others because it is best for me, why not have a standard 
way of transmitting simple information, then I can take the burden of 
formatting and manipulating information to suit my personal style on the 
client side?  It's this loose behavior and disregard for standards (and 
enforcement by security mechanisms being built into the standards) that 
has helped lead to other headaches in our profession...like SPAM.

Yes, it's more complicated an issue than I'm making it out to be.  But 
you asked why "techies" are so quick to get snotty.  Quick answer would 
probably be that we see the same problems over and over and take it for 
granted that someone would be clueless about why we're irritated.

Another note...I didn't know it was part of RFCs.  Ignoring standards is 
so ingrained now for so many in IT that I guess the "lets have a 
standard way of doing this so it may actually make the process of not 
having to view annoying formatting easier" seemed blatantly, blinding, 
and overwhelmingly obvious as a nice pipe dream.  Who was it that said 
something to the effect of, "I love standards...there's so many to 
choose from?"