Hello Richard,

On Wednesday November 23 2016 14:36, you wrote to Wilfred Van Velzen:

 RM> But I think we are turning in (unnecessary) circles.
 RM> I know now what to send to rescan an existing area.

 RM> There is more than one config option on many different softwares that
 RM> I find unlogical. So the fault lies probably in me ;) (But I still
 RM> think is that sending back a "you are already connected to
that area"
 RM> message is a bit unintuitive if you rescan an area that is active for
 RM> you already)

There is a strong correlation between what is perceived as intu‹tive and
what one is used to. Technically their is nothing wrong with a motorcycle
where one has to turn the right hamdlebar in such a way that the upper part
moves away from you. Someone who has never driven a motor cycle or any
other vehicle where the throtle is controled by turning something with the
right hand, would have no more difficulty learnion it then when it were the
other way. For me it would be conter intu‹tive and even dangerous as I
would exhibit the wrong reflex in a panic situation. Itwas over 50 yars ago
that I learned those reflexes. Next to impossible to unlearn.

The reality is that there is no universal "arafix language". Even
the connect and disconnect commands are not 100% universal. To use the more
advanced features you have to RTFM.

Regarding how FMAIL handles the rescan: Normally one would only do a rescan
when connection an area for the first time with the first link. Rescanning
an already connected area can have undesired side effects and so it should
not be done lightly. That it takes a bit more effort (and actually requires
RTFM) instead of "just do the f*cking rescan" as you put  it, is
fine with me. "Just do the rescan" is not what I would want Fmail
to do.

Maybe you can entice Wilfred to make the response to an attempt to rescan
an already connected area (other than with the =area command) a bit more
verbose. But any attempt to make it act in te same way as hpt would trigger
restistance from my side.

Why do people who want to change software always expect and desire that it
acts in exactly in the same way as the sofware thetr used before they
decided to cahnge?


Cheers, Michiel

--- GoldED+/W32-MSVC 1.1.5-b20130111