Re: CML2 1.3.1, aka "I stick my neck out a mile..."

Eric S. Raymond
2001-04-30T07:39:50Z

Alexander Viro <viro@math.psu.edu>:
> >From AFW FAQ:
>
> Q11. What is the McQuary limit?
> A11. "There once was a man from Nantucket,
> who lost his .sig in a bucket.
> Five lines was too long,
> columns 80 just strong,
> so he didn't know where to tuck it."
> A11. The limit on signature size: "4x80".

I just added the following to the Jargon File masters:

@hd{McQuary limit} @p{} 4 lines of at most 80 characters each,
sometimes still cited on Usenet as the maximum acceptable size of a
@es{sig block}. Before the great bandwidth explosion of the early
1990s, long sigs actually cost people running Usenet servers
significant amounts of money. Nowadays social pressure against
long sigs is intended to avoid waste of human attention rather
than machine bandwidth. Accordingly, the McQuary limit should
be considered a rule of thumb rather than a hard limit; it's
best to avoid sigs that are large, repetitive, and distracting.
See also @es{warlording}.
--
Eric S. Raymond

What, then is law [government]? It is the collective organization of
the individual right to lawful defense."
-- Frederic Bastiat, "The Law"