Subj : Re: Lots of empty lines in messages (^M)
To   : dozo
From : Gryphon
Date : Tue May 06 2025 08:04 am

On 28 Apr 2025 at 01:29p, dozo pondered and said...
 
 do> Hi all,
 do> 
 do> I'm running mystic on Linux, v1.12 A48. In my message base I have the
 do> issue that some messages have lots of new line characters in them,
 do> splitting messages with *a lot* of linefeeds resulting in very large
 do> messages. It's not always happening though and as of late, it looks like
 do> it's not happening to new messages. 
 do> 
 do> The linefeeds can be seen when opening the file with vi and they're
 do> showing as ^M^M^M etc. I have investigated the issue earlier; other
 do> boards don't seem to have the issue for the same message in the same
 do> network and area.
 do> 
 do> I was wondering if I could repair my base or whether it would be
 do> possible to manipulate the files by using sed and replace any instance
 do> of '^M^M^M' to none (I'm not familiar with the file format and if it is
 do> forgiving in that sense).

I'm glad that somebody else is speaking up about this. I"ve seen this happen here on more than one Mystic BBS. I suspect the issue occurs when somebody is using some sort of OL reader that might be using a html text box when editing a message on the BBS.

My suggestion is to isolate the messages and see if it's happening with only one or two users and ask them what method they are using to upload their messages.

 "Amy Pond, there's something you better understand about me 'cause it's
 important, and one day your life may depend upon it. I am definitely a Mad
 Man with a Blue Box."
          .oO Madman with a Blue Box BBS Oo.oO madmanbbs.ddns.net Oo.

.... I don't want to go!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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