102295 - '--' (without space) not stripped when adding '-- ' to signature

Status: NEW

(MailNews Core :: Composition, defect)

Description

[dylang]

I'm not sure why Mozilla's message composer adds in its own -- to the start of
any signature.  It makes sharing signature files between it and NS4 (which
doesn't add it) a little annoying as you either have to type it in, or remove
the spare one.

If this is the "new" blessed behaviour, I'll accept it, but I'd like to see
something in the docs :)

Comment 1

[R.K.Aa.]

Dup of bug 30208?

Reporter: Please always include the Mozilla build ID in bug-reports.

Comment 2

[dylang]

Oops.

Build 2001092608

I read that bug.  Changing '--\n' to '-- \n' fixes it, but that seems really
damned pedantic.  I've never heard anyone say you had to have a whitespace. 
Perhaps we should just trim it?

Comment 3

[Jean-Francois Ducarroz]

"-- " is the standard (at an academic point of view) signature separator. We
always add this separator unless the signature file already contains it. We use
a signature separator to let "smart" client be able to detect it in order to do
special processing with it. 4.x does the same!

Comment 4

[dylang]

No.

NS4 showed the built-in --.  Mozilla showed 2 -- lines, because it does not
strtrim before doing the stricmp.

Go ahead and test a sample signature of '-- ' vs '--' in NS4 and Moz.  See how
Mos does NOT in fact follow NS4 behaviour.

Comment 5

[Jesse Ruderman]

Mozilla's current behavior with "incorrect" signature files (sending '-- ' 
followed by '--') is confusing.  Mozilla should either inform the user that 
their signature file uses the wrong format, or silently replace the '--' in the 
signature file with '-- ' in outgoing mail.

Comment 6

[http://tinymailto.com/oliversl]

In Mozilla Build ID 2002111512, Mozilla detects the '-- \n' in the signature
and supress it.
If you have '--\n' at the start of you signature, Mozilla don't touch it.
I don't if Mozilla should modify your signature, but I think it is OK for
Mozilla to supress the '-- \n' in the first line.

On original description:
maybe you can create 2 signatures, 1 for Mozilla and one for NS4

Comment 7

[Carl]

My signature when using other mail clients is:

Carl
-----------------
details...

So the auto-insertion of --\n is a bother. It would be a plus to be able to
avoid the additional text inserted (is it added to make msg parsing more
straightforward?)

This may look like a small point, but it hits every mail I compose. That's half
of the functionality of a mail client (the other half being to send emails).

Elsewhere... mozillamail tops other mail clients I've tried.

Comment 8

[Hendrik Maryns]

This is obviously about people not understanding the standard.  I propose this bug gets RESOLVED - INVALID.

Comment 9

[BvdG]

Maybe this is not about people not understanding the standard, but about a standard that isn't really a standard. I've looked at some 100 incoming mails of the last year, and there are really very few email clients that bother with the '-- ' prefix to the signature. Most people like to have a signature like:

Kind regards,
Marc
-----------
Marc Richards
Director of Marketing
Adventron Inc.
www.adventron.com

so they don't have to type their name under every email they write. Any prefix is perceived as annoying and inconvenient. I presume that's why Lotus Notes, MS Outlook and most other clients don't include it.

You can define a bug in two ways:
1. Something that doesn't work as the programmers intended
2. A feature that's inconvenient and annoying.
This is a bug of type 2.

Can I make a request to remove the prefix?

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

ref: bug 58406

Comment 11

[Kirk]

I agree with Marc's taxonomy, this is a "type 2" bug. All one needs to do is look at the 8-page thread "How do I remove signature divider" that starts at this URL: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=19458&st=0&sk=t&sd=a. Eight pages! And more than a little venom between those who insist the -- above the Thunderbird signature is a hard and fast standard (one person likens them to the requirement for brake lights on a car) and those who think *they* should get to decide whether the dashes are inserted. The only extension that addressed this bug is incompatible with current versions. I know the value of stripping the repeated sig lines in a string of e-mail exchanges. I want Thunderbird to give the option of suppressing the double dash. It's clearly NOT a standard, if one looks at many other e-mail programs.

Kirk