Hallo Richard!   
      
    RM> But I also do not have the need to send characters of languages   
    RM> that I do not speak.   
      
   I can relate especially considering that I haven't ever mastered the language   
   I speak, nevermind ones that I don't.  Having said that I can see where utf-8   
   supported echoareas might improve the current situation in Fidonet.  It is   
   worth a shot ... maybe.   
      
    RM> Some people tried to add UTF-8 support, but they gave up.   
      
   I don't blame them.  For my part I just use an already capable editor (vim in   
   my case but there are many others) and took it from there.  One thing I've   
   noticed is that it doesn't matter if a kludge is provided or not.  Both golded   
   and msged will screw them up with or without a CHRS kludge.  It is a total   
   waste of bytes and probably only encourages the FTSC powers that be to write   
   further jibberish they call "standards".  :::evil grin:::   
      
   Het leven is goed,   
   Maurice   
      
   ... Huil niet om mij, ik heb vi.   
   --- GNU bash, version 4.4.23(1)-release (x86_64-bonnell-linux-gnu)   
    * Origin: Little Mikey's EuroPoint - Ladysmith BC, Canada (2:280/464.113)