[texhax] Simulating dotted leading

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2011-06-05 at 21:53:39 +0100, Alister Mitchell wrote:

 > Yes, I agree that it is not good form to go off list like that but
 > I have two exceuses:
 > 
 > 1. I'm not up to the standard of the contributors of this list and
 > would not want to waste the time of the majority with what I think
 > was probably a simple question (to you, but not to me!).
 > 2. I needed to attach a picture of the page I was trying to
 > simulate and I think the list strips attachments.

I must admit that I'm absolutely unable to remember which lists are
stripping attachments, but I suppose that most TeX related lists don't.
It would be quite strange if mailing lists strip attached files but
pass all the absolutely useless HTML crap which slows down list
servers and blows up user's mailboxes for no good reason.

If in doubt, and your file is pure ASCII, you can paste the file into
your mail message.  However, if it contains non-ASCII characters, it's
probably better to attach a compressed file in order to prevent mail
clients from trying to be smarter than desired.

It's certainly not appropriate to add \tracingall to the preamble of a
huge book and post the log file to a mailing list.  But if you provide
a minimal example, there is nothing wrong if you attach it and its log
file to a mail message.

It happened several times that I asked people to provide more
information and got the response off-list.  This is quite unfortunate
because I'm the only one then who can help.  What I'm uncomfortable
with is the fact that I'm made too responsible then.  The advantage of
a mailing list is that others can correct me if my suggestions are
wrong.  So please reply off-list only if you are asked for.

And don't worry if you think your question is too simple.  The texhax
list is the correct place for *any* questions about TeX.  

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
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