From: "Erica VD Ginter" <eginter at klgai.com>
To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: style
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 16:38:24 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

I can't stand small caps. Just a personal peccadillo. They always look
strange when they end up starting a sentence, or next to regular caps. But,
yeah, it's a style thing.

Erica

-----Original Message-----
From: Strong, Lee [mailto:StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL]
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 3:58 PM
To: 'WSFA members'
Subject: [WSFA] Re: style

	Thank you.  I prefer italics for book titles and other media
equivalent to book titles.  However, my email software will only allow me to
use italics when I initiate a message and not subsequently.  Somewhere I saw
the before & after underscore and thought it was the new standard.  Live and
learn.
	Would someone take on the job of publishing a WSFA Netiquette list?
In addition to the compromise italics, I would like a list of the
semi-mysterious abbreviations such as IMHO and YMMV.  (I now know both of
these.)								/s/ LCS3

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted White [mailto:tedwhite at compusnet.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 3:26 PM
To: WSFA members
Subject: [WSFA] Re: style

"Strong, Lee" wrote:

> Erica,
>         Yes, I would like to borrow _Alternate Realities_ at the next WSFA
> meeting.  I looked for it in two library systems and they don't have it.
>         I did find a copy of Heinlein's _The Number of the Beast_ and
> started rereading it for his thoughts.  My previous read influenced my
> thoughts on this subject.
>         And as a professional proofreader, is it correct to indicate the
> title of a book by quotation marks or underscores or what?  I have been
> using quotation marks for short stories and before-and-after underscores
to
> simulate italics for full length books, etc.  However, most people use
> quotation marks for both, and I request your advice.

This is purely a matter of Style, and as such is individually determined by
each
publisher/publication.  The standard is as you indicated:  quotes for short
story titles (and song titles) and italics for the titles of publications,
books, movies and record albums.   Quite often the publication refers to
*itself* (and sister publications) in large & small caps.   This was the
style I
used at AMAZING & FANTASTIC.

That said, there are compromises required for plain text posts.  Italics,
obviously, are out.   But the preceding (and following) underscore is ugly
and
not quickly tracked/translated by the eye (probably because it is below the
line
of type -- for this reason some people use the = instead, but it has never
caught on).  I prefer to substitute ALL CAPS for such titles.  The eye
immediately recognizes this for what it is.

--Ted White