[thelist] TIP: Email signature markers need a space in Thunderbird

[Ian Anderson]

Hi all,

Something I only became aware of relatively recently, but really 
appreciate now I know about it, is the signature cut line - "-- "

Thought I'd post a tip on this since I think it's kind of cool.

<tip type="Email signature cut lines" author="Ian Anderson">
When adding a signature to posts, it's good practice to mark the start 
of the signature formally with a signature cut line: e.g. "-- " [1]

The signature cut line indicates the division between your words and 
your signature, the purpose being to allow recipients to decide for 
themselves how the sig will be treated. In Thunderbird, for instance, 
the text in the sig appears greyed out by default when the message is 
viewed by others, indicating its inferior status and helping the real 
content to stand out in a posting.

Formally, the signature cut line should be two hyphens followed by a 
space. Without the space, Thunderbird doesn't realise that the sig is 
such, and shows the text in the foreground colour. It's a little thing, 
but it makes a huge difference to the readability of posts.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block

</tip>

Cheers

Ian

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