[ih] Fwd: Reporter query on the history of greater-than in quoted replies

[Michael Greenwald]

On 2017-01-03 12:00, Dave Crocker wrote:
> On 1/3/2017 7:57 AM, Dave Crocker wrote:
>> Just got this query.  I don't have any clear memory of how the usage 
>> got
>> started.  Do any of you?
> ...
>> Subject: Reporter query on the history of greater-than in quoted 
>> replies
>> Date: Mon,  2 Jan 2017 12:43:04 -0800
>> From: Glenn Fleishman <glenn at glennf.com>
> ...
>> I read early RFCs and other documents, and was unable to find the 
>> origin
>> of > for quoting a reply.
> 
> 
> Just looked at the 1977 documentation for the Rand MS system.  It's
> examples do not show quoted text being included.  Had the convention
> developed by then, I think it would have.
> 
> So I'm going to guess that it came up in the 80s.  Anyone have old
> copies of MH source code that might show it?
> 
> d/

For what it's worth, I remember that the first time I saw it (well,
the first time I *noticed* it) was after I had seen tab stops in
either TeX or Scribe, in which @> or \> was a tab stop. Second, I
think I saw it in a bulletin board before I ever saw it in email,
and remember thinking that >>, >>> etc. were better for deep
nesting than spaces.

So, it may make sense to look for sources of BBS systems, which may
predate the appearance of ">" in MH (or other electronic mail) software.

(Without concrete evidence of source file listings, of course, my
recollections are as suspect as anyone's, and should be taken with
a very large grain of salt)