news.software.readers

On 2007-10-08, Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:
> Here's the result of a very small form feed handling survey:
>
> newsreader | form feed handling
> ----------------------------------------+----------------------------
> any newsreader using more as the pager | yes, pausing
> slrn | yes, masking with asterisks
> knews | replaces by empty line
> Google Groups as of today | replaces by empty line
>
> I checked the GKSA , and I think this problem is not mentioned.
> However, in some newsgroups I'm using, solutions to puzzles and
> texts about new books/movies with potential spoilers are traditionally
> protected by a preceding form feed, expecting the readers to only
> see them after a key press. Should this behaviour be demanded from
> news readers?
>
> Regards,
> -is

I think Gnus treats the FF as a 'spoiler' much the same way as slrn does.
That feature seems to be an unofficial extension of the 'standards' so the
GNKSA won't pay any attention to it and other clients are unlikely to
incorporate it unless the developers can be convinced that they or their
users want it.

Alternative and more universal means of 'spoiling' content in a usenet
article are (a) ROT13 and/or (b) inserting several lines of 'spoiler text'
so that the 'secret' isn't revealed until the user scrolls down far
enough. (Reading via Google Groups tends to muck up the latter if it
isn't done with care - test the method in before using it for
real).

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