Re: A few questions about how you write e-mails

[Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com>]

Jeff Horn <jrhorn424@gmail.com> wrote:

> Firstly, I notice some of the regular posters wrap org source in the
> #+ style org wrappers, others use a <--8--cut-here---8--> or some
> similar "horizontal-rule", and yet others use some sort of vertical
> "quoting":
> 
> .----
> | like this
> | or this
> .__
> 
> My first question is two-fold: 1) how did you come to use this style
> for quoting code in your replies, and 2) mind sharing the macros or
> letting us know what packages you use that help make your e-mails look
> tidy?
> 

I use boxquote.el (see http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BoxQuote) for the
above style, but as Samuel and Bernt point out that's not the best way
for quoting material where the recipient is expected to use the quoted
material (e.g. code snippets): extracting it from the boxquote is more
difficult than it needs to be (even if one has boxquote.el installed).[fn:1]

For code, I use the method Bernt described: message-mark-inserted-region,
which is similar to the purely textual approach of Samuel's, but does
provide nice fontification in my mailer.

I bind these functions to keys: C-c q for the boxquote style, C-c m for
the message style, but this is very much a matter of personal
preference. Sometimes I need boxquote-unbox, but I don't have a key for
that: I call the function with M-x ...

> Secondly, and somewhat related to the first, are orgsters simply using
> gnus with message-mode hook to utilize org footnotes? I've noticed I
> can style/face the text with a message-mode hook, but I'm wondering
> how everyone deals, in general, with plain text footnotes in e-mail?
> Do you even use footnotes for sharing links?
> 

I don't use gnus/message-mode for mail. Re: footnotes - I use them
rarely in mail and most of the time by hand, but I do have
org-footnote-action bound to a key (see the footnote above) - I just
forget to use it most of the time. And I don't style them at all: whatever
the mailer/emacs/hooks at the receiving end does, is up to them.

> Lastly, are any orgsters using gnus+gmail? I've tried just reading org
> list mails in gnus, but I find switching back and forth to be jarring
> if I read org list e-mails in a browser throughout the day, since I
> end up re-reading a lot of mails. Also, mind sharing how you've mapped
> the cumbersome "B m [Gmail]/Trash" to a better key? If anyone feels
> inspired, I'd use a package that utilized gmail movement shortcuts in
> gnus (so mark with x, move out of inbox with e, or move to trash (as
> above) with #).
> 

I don't use gnus (except for news reading - which I only do very rarely
nowadays). For mail, I will die with the mh-e keybindings permanently
etched in the reptilian part of my brain - by now, the fingers can act
independently from the rest of my body. And I only use a browser to
search mailing list archives, never to read mail with.

Nick

Footnotes:

[fn:1] I used boxquotes for some code once and Seb Vauban (iirc) took me
to task. I'm pretty sure I have not repeated the faux-pas.