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        The "@" character isn't nonstandard in that it's part of the
standard ASCII character set, but it's used as an escape character on
editing systems so it causes problems when used raw as a text character.

        When I worked on our Atex systems years ago, it wreaked havoc in
copy sent in via dialup -- it was interpreted by the serial-port program as
an instruction to interpret the two characters following it as a command.
(To start boldface, for example, you used "@bf", to return to normal text
you used "@nm". The worst case was "@et" for "end text", which had a
catastrophic effect on the transmission of copy that included an address
like "smith@eton.uk" -- everything after "smith" would be thrown on the
floor). I believe it also had weird effects when sent raw to the typesetter.

        Our editorial style, however, is to reproduce the @ in the printed
text of the paper. The drill circa 1992 was for the remote filer to identify
the at-sign with "(at)" in the copy, and for the copy desks to keep an eye
out for that construction and replace it with a special format call that
would typeset the desired character. I hope for their sakes that they've
since found a more graceful way to handle this.

At 12:05 PM 8/23/96 -0800, Mark Loundy wrote:
>Jonathan Oatis [snip]:
>> At the risk of asking an old question, I'm wondering what your newspapers'
>> style is on the "@" sign. At Reuters, some of us use "(at)" with an
>> editor's note so papers that can't print it or have terminals that can't
>> handle the symbol can work with the copy. In another case, at least one of
>> us just types "at" without an explanatory note. Or should we just use "@"?
>
>Jonathan,
>
>I've never heard of this being an issue. I've got an old Remington
>Noiseless typewriter sitting next to me and the @ symbol is right there on
>the keyboard. It is by no means a non-standard character.

==========================================================================
Gordon T. Thompson                                      gordy@nytimes.com
Manager, Internet Services                              212 556 1386
The New York Times                                      fax: 212 556 1636
  The Times and I have an arrangement: Neither of us speaks for the other.


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