In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 2/12/07 09:45, in article , "Si"
| $3o&m wrote:
|
| cos usenet is a 7 bit medium and characters like 1/2 are characters that
| require 8 bits and so end up as unknown in the 7 bit environment.
|
| I'd like to pretend I understand that but I'm grateful anyway. ;-) In
| future it's probably better to write out one half etc.

I could explain, but you would then have to get someone else to
translate :-) Basically, there are two causes of such chaos:

1) Using characters that have no representation in ASCII
(1/2 being one, pound being another). If it isn't on the main
part of your keyboard in either unshifted or prime shift form,
don't use it (e.g. don't use Alt). And don't use pound on a UK
keyboard.

2) Revolting applications that generate grobble when plain
text would do (even characters like '-' can get mangled). Fixing
that is harder.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.