Re: Admin: a suggestion on the script corruption problem.
Re: Admin: a suggestion on the script corruption problem.
- Subject: Re: Admin: a suggestion on the script corruption problem.
- From: cheshirekat <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 09:35:58 -0700
On 02-17-2001 0352, Paul Berkowitz may have typed or relayed in full or
in part ...
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On 2/17/01 12:56 AM, "Richard 23" <email@hidden> wrote:
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>> A concern I have is: Many of us receive this list on digest. How
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>> would this affect/work for digest subscribers?
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> Sheesh! I've been plugging my "Convert Script" tool for months now
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> and I'm still the only one using it. It preprocesses scripts so that
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> they survive the trip through the server and are still as readable or
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> unreadable as they were prior to preprocessing.
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> Again, read about it and/or download the current version by going to
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> <http://homepage.mac.com/richard23/docs/ConvertScript2.html>
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> I have most of the next version done but haven't seen it as a priority
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> since I'm the only one using it!
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He's right. He's done it already - you can all stop. I've just been trying
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it out and it works great, and automatic -- either direction: from mangled
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or mangle-proof-encoded (<< >>) to real, and from real to
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mangle-proof-encoded.
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Newbies will still be totally baffled until/if they can be persuaded to use
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it. People will still go on innocently sending in genuine code and others
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will be baffled why the code they paste into editors doesn't work. But for
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regulars here, Richard's script does the trick very well (even if you
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occasionally have to step over some of his idiomatic quixotic
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interpolations).
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Well done, richard! Until Chris Nebel's new ASCII-7 AppleScript is released
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(talk about cart before the horse: changing the language as a solution for a
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mailing list's illiterate server!), this is a real help here.
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--
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Paul Berkowitz
Just out of curiosity, since I'm not a newbie and really haven't had a
need (I might be more inclined to if the text didn't require excess
fiddling) to copy any scripts from the messages lately, is the script an
application? Which email clients will it work with, or does it utilize
clipboard text or text files?
I think, as Richard has observed, people just aren't overly excited about
going through multiple steps to make the included scripts and snippets
useable/readable or they might have already been using Richard's convert
script. Also, many people are uncomfortable using scripts from unknown or
barely known sources. I know that it's been many many months since I've
used someone else's script without checking out the source. If I find the
source cryptic, obfuscated and difficult to follow in short time, I
simply won't bother with it. (I'm not saying this is the case with
Richard's script since I admittedly haven't taken the time to check it
out)
With that said, I can't imagine what a newbie might be thinking when told
they will need to download and utilize a script without prior details of
where and how to utilize it. What about those people that still have
email-only internet usage? What about people that have limited time and
have to go through multiple steps to even be able to use the mentioned
script?
I'm just tossing out some food for thought. I think it's great for the
ASUsers list community that Richard gererously made the script available
to all. Personally, I've just been trying to wait patiently for the list
server stuff to be fixed. It's irritating to me that the list is forcing
us to deal with the limitations, but since there are other things in life
that are currently much more irritating to deal with, I prefer to spend
my energy utilizing other resources like other mailing lists that don't
have the problem. If there is a particular script that I must have and am
unable to unmangle quickly, I would privately email the party that
provided it. Most poeple here really are friendly and don't seem to mind
an occasional personal request. Or run over and pinch WIK for help.
If Cal IS going to make another general AppleScript list available, I'd
also be willing to participate in that list.
kat
(who only has a limited amount of energy left to spend on all the
irritations in life)