# No, I do not want a PDF or a hard copy, give me a txt! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-do-not-want-a-pdf-or-a-hard-copy-give-me-a-txt/284059 "2005-01-10T16:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-do-not-want-a-pdf-or-a-hard-copy-give-me-a-txt/284059/1 "2005-01-10T16:37:06Z")
What is wrong with you? Last time I asked you for network traffic data you killed a tree to give me a badly formatted report. After much to do you produced a text file. Were you dissappointed that I figured out which columns were which despite that coy lack of field names? This time you sent me a PDF. I know damn well you can give me a file in somekind of useable format, and that you are choosing not to. Remember the .txt file your assistant gave me while you were out? Thing of beauty and clarity that was. Is that why he is no longer with the company? Did you fire him for not being a road block? How hard is it to print to a file? Html, txt, csv, prn, doc, xls, any of those would be nice. What is next? Handwritten notes? Is being obstructionary fun for you? I want data that I can massage into some format that will provide me with information about what is happening on the network. I need this to do my job. Give it up and get me the text file! ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-do-not-want-a-pdf-or-a-hard-copy-give-me-a-txt/284059/2 "2005-01-10T17:08:52Z")
I’m just trying to obscure the fact that I’m saturating the T1 by downloading mp3 from usenet. Sorry.