Sort of OT - Font sizes in postings

Over the last, say, three or four weeks, I've noticed a huge increase in the number of posts here in this group that have formatted text (looks like 12pt Arial to me - may be wrong). Where the hell is it all coming from?

John

Reply to
John
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John,

As I believe that you're using Outlook Express 6: try Tools, Options, Read, Font Size to adjust the size.

Also, if you have a scroll mouse, it's possible that you've altered the font size by pressing the Ctrl key and rolling the scroll button at the same time when reading the posts - I do it often!

Brian G

Reply to
Brian G

I haven't, but I think I've still got MIME/HTML postings in the killfile, and there's no concept of font size carried with plain text postings.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Dunno, but it is usually because OE interprets it as being encoded as Western European (ISO) text, instead of Western European (Windows). You can adjust it by going to View -> Encoding, but I don't bother unless I am replying to a post.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

"John" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

As others have said, the issue is with your newsreader. From the header of your post: X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138 which confirms that you are using Outlook Express V6.00

The issue is at your end: I do not see the problem (I use Xnews).

It's purely a viewing problem. Newsgroup postings are made using the NNTP protocol which is purely text based. See RFC 3977 (which supersedes the original RFC 977):

The character set for all newsgroup posts is ASCII - or more accurately, UTF-8 (of whcih ASCII is a subset). The rendering of this into a display format is done at the client end (your PC) using an NNTP-capable newsreader, in your case Outlook Express (OE). It is this that is causing the issue that you see.

Others have suggested a fix using the options of OE. I suggest using a 'proper' newsreader - as I said, I use Xnews. Find a copy via this page:

Others may have further suggestions...

Kind regards

Reply to
Richard Perkin

Your newsreader. Posts to here - on my ISP anyway - don't contain any data about font type or size. They are just ASCII characters. Your newsreader can do what it likes with it.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Thanks to all who replied.

John

Reply to
John

Spammers however (and ordinary posters with some with misconfigured software) frequently do post MIME encoded messages, which some newsreader will interpret and hence render the posters selected font rather than yours.

Reply to
John Rumm

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