Is it required?
I cannot read TLDR's postings via Synchronix's NNTP interface.
My newsreader show empty message and an attachment with the article. It is probably becase of:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=LTHhL24U
Is it required?
Hey ant!
On Fri, Sep 18 2026 15:10:20 +0300, ant wrote to TLDR:
I cannot read TLDR's postings via Synchronix's NNTP interface.
My newsreader show empty message and an attachment with the article. It is >a> probably becase of:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=LTHhL24U
Is it required?
Not required at all, however.. there are newsreaders that can read these messages perfectly fine. I can confirm from my own experience, that Thunderbird, slrn, and tin all work fine.
What are you using?
What are you using?
I was using Sylpheed when I first noticed the problem. Now I am replying via Tin, having tested that it also fails to display TLDR's posts. Beg you pardon for e-mail-style quoting, because I don't know (yet) how to configure the Fidonet-style quoting in Tin on a per-server basis.
Not required at all, however.. there are newsreaders that can read these messages perfectly fine. I can confirm from my own experience, that Thunderbird, slrn, and tin all work fine.
What are you using?
I was using Sylpheed when I first noticed the problem. Now I am
replying via Tin, having tested that it also fails to display TLDR's
posts. Beg you pardon for e-mail-style quoting, because I don't know
(yet) how to configure the Fidonet-style quoting in Tin on a per-server basis.
ant:
Beg you pardon for e-mail-style quoting, because I don't
know (yet) how to configure the Fidonet-style quoting in
Tin on a per-server basis.
As for quoting, depending on what you're using (ie.
external editor, or the newsreader's built in editor).. I
use nano as an external editor, and if you go to the first
column of a paragraph, and hit CTRL-J, it will re-quote
the paragraph in proper form. In Thunderbird, CTRL-R does
the same thing. I'm not sure what to do with Tin's
internal editor, though.
As for quoting, depending on what you're using (ie.
external editor, or the newsreader's built in editor)..
I use nano as an external editor, and if you go to the
first column of a paragraph, and hit CTRL-J, it will re-
quote the paragraph in proper form. In Thunderbird,
CTRL-R does the same thing. I'm not sure what to do with
Tin's internal editor, though.
There is not such thing as Tin's built-in editor. It
relies on an external one, and I am using vi.
From: "Mortar" (VERT/EOTLBBS) <VERT/EOTLBBS!Mortar@nix.synchro.net>
To: finglonger
Subject: TLDR Reception
Message-ID: <697D1C92.646.dove-techtalk@endofthelinebbs.com>
where the poster complains that he cannor read them.
Having investigated this issue, I conclude that it is caused not by encoding settings in either Sylpheed or Tin, but rather by the structure
of TLDR's multipart attachments, which has been broken since On
2026.02.02.
For example, consider his last correct post:
Subject: SpaceX merger ?, OpenAI races Anthropic IPO ?, AI replacing SaaS ??
--HEQT47yB
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Now consider the first "broken" message:
Subject: Elon needs capital ?, Nvidia OpenAI deal stalls ?, tech loyalty
is dead ?
My newsreaders are therefore correct in displaying it as an empty message.
Since a since user's inability to read correct multipart
messages is a bad excuse to start posting in a malformed, non-standard-complying format, I hereby ask TLDR to please
either revert to the previos correct format, or -- much
better -- to post normal non-MIME plain-text messages.
Do nano and TB support both e-mail style quotations (as above), and Fidonet-style ones, as below:
a >> Beg you pardon for e-mail-style quoting, because I a >> don't know (yet) how to configure the Fidonet-style a >> quoting in Tin on a per-server basis.
There is not such thing as Tin's built-in editor. It relies on an external one, and I am using vi.
Although your own posts are declared as format=flowed, they
are not flowed at all, using MS-style with each paragraph represented as a single long line, whereas true
format=flowed paragraphs are wrapped to 72 characters per
line or so, with each line but the last ending in a trailing space.
That was only the starting sentence of paragraph I never finished. I
wanted to add that I will to use par[1] to
reflow quotations, but I cannot configure Tin or Sylpheed to
use different quoting styles for different accounts.
ant:
Interestingly, TLDR's messages became malformed after
this post:
From: "Mortar" (VERT/EOTLBBS) <VERT/EOTLBBS!Mortar@nix.synchro.net>
To: finglonger
Subject: TLDR Reception
Message-ID: <697D1C92.646.dove-techtalk@endofthelinebbs.com>
where the poster complains that he cannor read them.
Is there a date for this? I don't recall such a message.
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=h5nkvOqh
yet, if you search for `--h5nkvOqh', you shall find naught,
Having investigated this issue, I conclude that it is
caused not by encoding settings in either Sylpheed or
Tin, but rather by the structure of TLDR's multipart
attachments, which has been broken since On 2026.02.02.
Okie dokie.. think what you want
Thunderbird:
https://pharcyde.org/tldr-tb.png
https://pharcyde.org/tldr-slrn-headers.png
https://pharcyde.org/tldr-slrn-message.png
Subject: SpaceX merger ?, OpenAI races Anthropic IPO ?,
AI replacing SaaS ??
There's nothing correct about the question marks in the
subject line above. That looks like if UTF-8 glyphs were
to be viewed in something setup for CP437. om which it
can't be translated.
Note "charset=utf-8" while you're using ascii and/or
cp437.
My newsreaders are therefore correct in displaying it as
an empty message.
Ok, lol.
They even display fine, when Synchronet itself is
configured correctly (ie. logged into the BBS). Is it
possible that the specific site where you are viewing them
from is messing up the original messages?
Or, just ignore the message area if it doesn't work for
you. Since you're using a newsreader, you can simply just
unsubscribe.
It works for me, and I vote to keep it as is. _
If you can't see the UTF-8 glyph I just included in the
line above, it's a "you" thing (or something messed it up
between me and you).
Tin can definitely support different quote prefixes,
including initials before the quote character. Tin even
mentions "fidonet-style quoting" in their documentation.
Have you read it yet?
It's a bug - thanks for the report!
Digital Man:
It's a bug - thanks for the report!
Bug where -- in Synchronix? I was indeed going to report it
in a local Synchrnonix area.
It's a bug - thanks for the report!
ant:
There is not such thing as Tin's built-in editor. It
relies on an external one, and I am using vi.
Ok then, "gq" or "gqip" maybe? I don't use vi, but vi(m)
also has the ability to do this.
Although your own posts are declared as format=flowed,
they are not flowed at all, using MS-style with each
paragraph represented as a single long line, whereas
true format=flowed paragraphs are wrapped to 72
characters per line or so, with each line but the last
ending in a trailing space.
If you say so.
Definition of Format=Flowed:
Format=flowed is a specification for formatting plain-
text emails that allows for dynamic line wrapping. This
method enables email clients to adjust the display of
text based on the recipient's screen width while
preserving the original structure of the message.
Seems like your side should wrap it to under 80 characters
(see "enables email clients") if you want it to be.
I can resize my screen and the text takes up the whole
width at any given time.
Okie dokie.. think what you want, but:
Thunderbird:
https://pharcyde.org/tldr-tb.png
| Sysop: | Richard Williamson |
|---|---|
| Location: | Pueblo, Co |
| Users: | 2 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 54:53:42 |
| Calls: | 143 |
| Files: | 2,376 |
| D/L today: |
14 files (22K bytes) |
| Messages: | 44,040 |
