Fryke_and_his_underscores

Rhisiart

Rhisiart

Registered
Now call me biased, and I am not dissing other Mac help sites/forums etc., but I think MacOSX is by and above far the best of the lot.

The success clearly falls down to Fryke, BobW and all the other skilled moderators, who seem to get the balance just right between moderating content, providing advice to users, whilst at the same time allowing contributors a free reign to offer advice and suggestions (moderators from other sites could do well to learn from them).

However, I just have to ask this question! What's_with_the_underscores_Fryke? It's not a complaint, I am just curious.
 
It's another way of emphasizing the text. Some older programs used it to delineate underlined text, others considered it italicized text.
 
It's a holdover from the days of BBSes and IRC, where you didn't have font styling capabilities. For this reason, people would use asterisks or underscores to place emphasis on certain words.

Even though we now have the styling abilities, sometimes it's much easier to just use the old way since it doesn't break the flow of the typing. :)
 
Right.

List of queries that have bothered me for some time:

1. Do UFO's exist?
2. Is there a Loch Ness monster?
3. Can one travel faster than the speed of light?
4. Why does Fryke us so many underscores?

Well that's one mystery solved.
 
Hehe, i like the list.

I sometimes use underscores, as it seems a fairly strong but inoffensive way of emphasising text. Less heavy than SHOUTING but more visible that italicising. Then again that might just be me...

ora
 
It is either the retro feel of the BBS days or the laziness of manually / with a click use the vB code such as or ...
 
It like using <french accent> la langue de Molière </french accent> to emphasis some sentences in love songs.
 
rhisiart said:
1. Do UFO's exist?
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No, but UFOs exist. I am not aware of any UFO actually possessing "exist," nor am I familiar with what they actually do with their exists. ;)
Just nitpicking on yer grammar, that's all!
2. Is there a Loch Ness monster?
Click to expand...
Considering infinite dimensions, yes. There is a Loch Ness monster somewhere. But, due to the infinite dimensions, somewhere, in some dimension, there is a world exactly like our own with the only exception being that my cat is President.
3. Can one travel faster than the speed of light?
Click to expand...
No, but two can, if the one behind gives the one in front a little push...
4. Why does Fryke us so many underscores?
Click to expand...
I personally think it's exposure to gamma radiation like Bruce Banner, but your guess is as good as mine.

I hope that helps! :p
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
No, but UFOs exist. I am not aware of any UFO actually possessing "exist," nor am I familiar with what they actually do with their exists.
Click to expand...

You got me their dude!

P.S. Is your cat a Democrat?
 
1. Do UFO's exist?
Click to expand...

Yes. UFO = Unidentified Flying Object. There are lots of flying objects in the world, and lots of poeple who really aren't good at identifying them.

2. Is there a Loch Ness monster?
Click to expand...

Aye, but she isn' a holdover from prehistoric times, as many a traveller would have you believe. She is in fact a mutation of a fine scottish terrier that escaped from a post-WW2 nuclear research lab. This explains why there are no records of the monster prior to 1952.

3. Can one travel faster than the speed of light?
Click to expand...

Yes, provided one doesn't mind the slight inconvenience of using an infinite amount of energy, having infinite weight, and keeping an infinite supply of travel-sickness pills.

4. Why does Fryke us so many underscores?
Click to expand...

This saves wear and tear on the spacebar. Underscores can be used in place of spaces. By using_Underscores for_every second_space you_can cut_space bar_wear and_tear by_half!
 
Hm. :)

symphonix: I'm _doing_ spacebars as well. As has been assumed, it's something old. BBS style styling and all that. And: It's just much faster than -tags... If you have Microsoft Word installed, just type the following sentence and see, how magically, the word between _s is changed to italics: "I really _do_ want to have italics."

Giaguara: You nailed it. But it's actually both things together.

And rhisiart: Thanks for this thread. :) ... Maybe I should include it in my signature... Doing that just now. :)
 
fryke said:
If you have Microsoft Word installed, just type the following sentence and see, how magically, the word between _s is changed to italics: "I really _do_ want to have italics.
Click to expand...

Oddly that works on Mac Word but not PC Word on my work machine. Nice tip though!
 
Just FYI if you you GNUS to read your mail and newsgroups (shudder) then emacs will also _nicely_ reformat /all/ your *ascii-font-things*.

/Just needed to introduce the emacs vs. vi thing into this thread. ;)
 
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