To show why I like blockquoting so much, let me explain this in detail. The difference between the default setup and the options you mention should be very noticable, if you reply to a (format=flowed, esp.) post with a nested quote using the HTML editor and try to cut / edit the quote heavily. It will rewrap nicely automatically.
Holger Metzger wrote (complete paragraph, original wrap): > Yes, I know, I know. Yesterday I actually seriously saw, for the first > time, why format=flowed is really useful. I was sitting in front of an > old 14" monitor. Aaaah, the wrapping, the horrible wrapping of > non-format=flowed postings. :-D Holger Metzger wrote (result): > Aaaah, the wrapping, the horrible wrapping of non-format=flowed > postings. :-D To produce the above quote, I did: 1. Put the cursor before "Aaaah" 2. Ctrl-Shift-Pos1 3. Shift-Cursor Down 4. Del 5. Put the cursor behind ":-D" 6. Ctrl-Shift-End 7. Del To do the same as step 1-3, but without f=f, blockquote and HTML editor, you have to: 1. Put the cursor before "> old" 2. Ctrl-Shift-Pos1 3. Shift-Cursor Down (possibly 2 times) 4. Del 5. Put the cursor before "Aaaah" 6. Shift-Pos1 7. Shift-Cursor Right 8. Shift-Cursor Right 9. Del 3 steps versus 9 or 10 is quite a difference, esp. if you do that several times per reply. What really annoys me about ">"s is when I insert things into the quote, like replacing "he" with "[Daniel Bratell]", which exceeds the max line length, which means that I have to manually insert a break and a ">" and remove any breaks and ">"s that are in the middle of the line now, and often even have to rewrap half the paragraph that way due to a single insertion (if I care enough). (Similar it goes for lists, but that's another topic.) In short, with f=f, blockquote and HTML editor, I don't have to care about the quote marks, wrapping etc.. It just works. That's what I like about it, and it is even much better for newbies. Apart from looking nicer IMO :). And, of course, blockquotes interoperate *way* better with HTML mails (which are IMO appropriate in certain cases). Another major reason (now for the viewer) is that blockquotes are much easier to style (via CSS). No special code had to be written to make coloring based on quote level possible - the document structure alone is rich enough to allow that, together with CSS.
