Re: ``Quips'' in signatures

[Joe Fineman]

Merciadri Luca <Luca.Merciadri@student.ulg.ac.be> writes:

> I have seen that many of the users of this Usenet group always use
> citations at the end of their mail (esp. in their signature).
>
> How can I manage to do this *simply*?

How simple is simple?  Being isolated from the Gnuish mainstream, I
routinely reinvent the wheel when such desires arise.  Here is my
routine for signing off with a quotation picked from a list:

(defun psig ()
  "Insert the signature for a personal posting on a newsgroup, including a 
saying."
  (interactive)
  (goto-char (point-max))
  (or (= (char-after (- (point) 1)) ?\n)
      (newline 1))
  (insert "-- \n---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net\n")
  (let ((saying ""))
    (save-window-excursion
      (find-file "~/p/networks/verizon/gnus/Sayings")
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (search-forward "#")
      (delete-char -1)
      (setq fill-prefix nil)
      (mark-paragraph)
      (setq saying (buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-end)))
      (exchange-point-and-mark)
      (if (eobp) (goto-char (1+ (point-min))))
      (insert "#")
      (save-buffer))
    (insert saying)
    ))

The file "Sayings" consists of 1- or 2-line paragraphs separated by
newlines, with a # before the next one to use.  It must begin with a
newline.

The output, appositely, looks like this:
-- 
---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||:  Nothing knits man to man like the frequent passage from hand  :||
||:  to hand of cash.                                              :||