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(sc)Attribution Preferences

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Attribution Preferences
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   When you cite an original message, you can tell Supercite which part
of the author's name you would prefer it to use as the attribution.  The
variable `sc-preferred-attribution-list' controls this; it contains
keys which are matched against the attribution alist in the given order.
The first value of a key that produces a non-`nil', non-empty string
match is used as the attribution string, and if no keys match, a
secondary mechanism is used to generate the attribution.  Note:
Anonymous Attributions.

   The following preferences are always available in the attribution
alist (barring error):

`"emailname"'
     the author's email terminus.

`"initials"'
     the author's initials.

`"firstname"'
     the author's first name.

`"lastname"'
     the author's last name.

`"middlename-1"'
     the author's first middle name.

`"sc-lastchoice"'
     the last attribution string you have selected. This is useful when
     you recite paragraphs in the reply.

`"sc-consult"'
     consults the customizable list `sc-attrib-selection-list' which can
     be used to select special attributions based on the value of any
     info key.  See below for details.

`"x-attribution"'
     the original author's suggestion for attribution string choice.
     See below for details.

   Middle name indexes can be any positive integer greater than zero,
though it is unlikely that many authors will have more than one middle
name, if that many.

   At this point, let me digress into a discussion of etiquette.  It is
my belief that while the style of the citations is a reflection of the
personal tastes of the replier (i.e., you), the attribution selection is
ultimately the personal choice of the original author.  In a sense it is
his or her "net nickname", and therefore the author should have some
say in the selection of attribution string.  Imagine how you would feel
if someone gave you a nickname that you didn't like?

   For this reason, Supercite recognizes a special mail header,
`X-Attribution:', which if present, tells Supercite the attribution
string preferred by the original author.  It is the value of this header
that is associated with the `"x-attribution"' key in the attribution
alist.  Currently, you can override the preference of this key by
changing `sc-preferred-attribution-list', but that isn't polite, and in
the future Supercite may hard-code this.  For now, it is suggested that
if you change the order of the keys in this list, that
`"x-attribution"' always be first, or possible second behind only
`"sc-lastchoice"'.  This latter is the default.

   The value `"sc-consult"' in `sc-preferred-attribution-list' has a
special meaning during attribution selection.  When Supercite
encounters this preference, it begins processing a customizable list of
attributions, contained in the variable `sc-attrib-selection-list'.
Each element in this list contains lists of the following form:

     (INFOKEY ((REGEXP . ATTRIBUTION)
              (REGEXP . ATTRIBUTION)
              (...)))

where INFOKEY is a key for `sc-mail-field' and REGEXP is a regular
expression to match against the INFOKEY's value. If REGEXP matches the
INFOKEY's value, the ATTRIBUTION is used as the attribution string.
Actually, ATTRIBUTION can be a string or a list; if it is a list, it is
`eval'uated and the return value (which must be a string), is used as
the attribution.

   This can be very useful for when you are replying to net
acquaintances who do not use the `X-Attribution:' mail header.  You may
know what nickname they would prefer to use, and you can set up this
list to match against a specific mail field, e.g., `From:', allowing you
to cite your friend's message with the appropriate attribution.