[R] [OT] "_" inserted in postings

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 08/09/2009 6:09 AM, (Ted Harding) wrote:
> Sorry if this is too "OT", but there is a particular relevance to
> postings to R-help.
> 
> Of recent times, I have received several postings via R-help (and some
> other mailing-lists) in which the "_" character is inserted where,
> presumably, a space, " ", was intended. An example (received this
> morning) is below, which (from the headers) was originally sent
> through Yahoo web-mail. This is as seen when I read it.
> [ From: FMH <kagba2006 at yahoo.com>
>   Subject: [R] Derivative of nonparametric curve
>   Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:07:10 -0700 (PDT) ]
> 
> ================================================
> Dear All,
> 
> I'm looking for_a way on computing the derivative of first and second
> order_of a smoothing curve produced by a nonprametric regression. For
> instance, if we run the R script below, a smooth nonparametric regression
> curve is produced. 
> 
> provide.data(trawl)
> Zone92__ <- (Year == 0 & Zone == 1)
> Position <- cbind(Longitude - 143, Latitude)
> dimnames(Position)[[2]][1] <- "Longitude - 143"
> sm.regression(Longitude, Score1, method = "aicc", col = "red",_ model =
> "linear")
> 
> Could someone please give some hints_on the way to_find the derivative_on
> the curve at_some points ?
> 
> Thank you.
> Kagba
> ================================================
> 
> In the message headers I see:
> 
>   Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>   Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> 
> and, on inspection of the message text in the "inbox" folder (i.e. as
> it was delivered to me), I see that each and every occurrence of the
> "_" is represented there as the three successive characters "=A0",
> i.e. a "quoted-printable" code.
> 
> Normally, I can happily ignore this kind of thing when it just occurs
> in text. But since, as in the above message, it can also be interpolated
> into R code, this could cause unnecessary inconvenience for people
> who want to test the code which people post to R-help. Ditto if someone
> should post code (such as the above) as a solution to someone else's
> problem: As received, it just would not work!
> 
> Comment: I have for long time been under the impression, now apparently
> a delusion, that the abominable quoted-printable had found its due final
> resting-place in the Museum of Dishonorable Obsolescence; apparently not!
> 
> Also, if people are using web-mailers (Yahoo or other) that wantonly
> insert this kind of rubbish, they should look into the possibility of
> either changing the configuration under which they post their mails
> (if possible), or mailing via a different agent.
> 
> The "quoted-printable" aspect may be a red herring, since I also see
> that the "=" signs in the code are represented as "=3D", as is forced
> in "quoted-printable"; but they have been rendered correctly in the
> text as seen (and copied). So it may just be due to substitution of
> "_" for " " on the ,art of the mailer.
> 
> What do others think?

I don't see the underscores in that posting, but I do see this as the 
last line in the headers:

X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by 
fisher.stats.uwo.ca id n8898BkC031633

(fisher.stats.uwo.ca is the server that receives my email).

So it looks as though whatever is doing the conversion on your system 
isn't doing it as well as it should.

Duncan Murdoch