Jay wrote:

>Barbara, thanks for the reminder. And I know you're right, but... who sez?
I
>really dislike the use of asterisks in place of quotation marks, and don't
>really understand what the underline (underlining nothing) means. Why can't
>quotation marks be used in email? And capitals occasionally? Who sez?
> Thanks!    Jay

Who sez?

As with all language development, it is the users of the language who
decide.  I'm only passing on knowledge gained from other areas of the net
and from some of my long-time-heavy-net-user friends.

Gene wrote:
>It's my understanding that asterisks are used, not in place of "quotation
>marks" (which can be used in e-mail), but rather as a substitute for
>boldface, italics, underlining, or other means of adding stress or emphasis
>to written text -- devices which e-mail does not support.
>Otherwise, I agree with the posting.

I agree Gene, Asterisks and underscores are not intended to replace
quotation marks.  Nobody said you shouldn't use quotation marks.

Andy wrote:
>I'm ready to be educated.  What is the difference between *, _, and +?

No difference.  Your choice of markers.  I have seen asterisks as the most
commonly preferred method.  They're all just for emphasis.

The only thing that's bad is SHOUTING at people with CAPITALS thus, which is
usually reserved for when you want to flame somebody severely, or be
intentionally offensive.  If you need to put particular *emphasis* on
something you want to _say_ , you can use asterisks, underscores, or the
good old exclamation mark!  This has been standard practice on other
newsgroups.  Of course capitals can still be used to start sentences, form
acronyms and other useful stuff.

Chris wrote:

>I strike a bit of a compromise, capitalizing only the Initial letter of
>words which may need emphasis. That's Lots faster in typing and less
>threatening on the screen than either leading And trailing asterisks or
>underlines   or all caps.
>  Just my way of doing things; maybe it'll catch on?  ;;)  [bifocal smilie]
>Chris  [log in to unmask]  Bloomington, IN

To which the humble david wrote a reply that made me :) (an example of a net
communication standard in action!)

Of course we are free to do our own thing, or agree on something else for
Museum-L, but standards work so beautifully if they are accepted, especially
where communication is concerned.  I vote for using *asterisks* for emphasis
because capitals seem to offend a lot of people, who think they're being
shouted at.  It's just my vote.  I thought it was already a standard and
didn't mean to start a bunfight.

Who sez?  Only the consensus.

Barbara