Thanks to everybody who answered my query about the Dutch friend's problem. There seem to be two answers -- 1) any line more than 70 characters long -- especially uninterrupted characters -- upsets some mailers. 2) certain mailers recognize a line of equal signs as the division between two separate mail messages. Both might apply in the case I mentioned, though 2 seems to be the particular focus of the Dutch friend's explanation. -- Kevin Berland for C18-L