### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/2 "2000-04-23T19:25:00Z")
Well, you can always hit ‘Enter’ twice, like this:
See how well that works? This might work as well:
```
But I'm not sure. I'll comment after I see.
```
---
### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/3 "2000-04-23T19:27:00Z")
Guess not. ☹
Damn Flood Control :mad:
That should have killed enough time.
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/4 "2000-04-23T19:40:00Z")
Usually I hit enter twice so I leave one blank line in between paragraphs.
Here’s two blank lines. Test. Test.
Booga wooga.
* * *
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2000, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/5 "2000-04-23T19:41:00Z")
Hum, it didn’t work.
I wonder if Lynx condenses blank lines. That’s probably it. Is there any way to circumvent it, now that HTML code is disabled? I mean, is there a UBB equivalent for \?
* * *
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
---
### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/6 "2000-04-23T20:17:00Z")
I see two blank lines in there. I have no idea what Lynx does. I’ll go check…
OK, I need a real Telnet client. And my trial version of SecureCRT expired. Oh, well.
---
### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/7 "2000-04-24T05:09:00Z")
line one
next
skipped one enter
skipped one enter
0010 x3
---
### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/8 "2000-04-24T05:10:00Z")
line one enter enter
line next enter enter
next line enter enter
so…
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### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/9 "2000-04-24T05:12:00Z")
line one enter enter enter
line two enter enter enter
line three enter enter enter
line last 0010 0010 0010
so buttons
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### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2000, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/10 "2000-04-24T05:14:00Z")
4cute
Etrouble
---
### Author:  [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/11 "2000-04-24T05:24:00Z")
line 1 +Char13
line 1 +Char(13)
line 1 [+char13]
---
### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2000, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/12 "2000-04-25T15:08:00Z")
**xekul** , I see blank lines in each of your posts. (?)
UBB will eliminate some excess lines, but it will not eliminate all of them so that your paragraphs run together.
## If you absolutely _must_ manually enter a blank line, enter the character string   on each line that you need to hold in place: \< enter \> (for new line)   \< enter \>   \< enter \>   \< enter \>   \< enter \> Gives you four blank lines that UBB will not collapse: (Obviously, I have messed with the codes to display the  , above, or they would have appeared as spaces, not text.)
Tom~
---
### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/13 "2000-04-26T00:56:00Z")
This is interesting!
I posted the previous from home (IE 5.1) and the non-breaking space characters were displayed as
_ampersand n b s p_
because I used the string
_ampersand a m p_
to insert an amper ahead of the “nbsp” when I posted. I worked like a champ–there.
I just stopped bak to look in on it before I left work (NetScape 4.02) and the whole string is displayed as
_ampersand a m p n s b p_. The symbolics are not reolved at all. I would guess that this would be the result of the “nbsp” when tagged on to the “& amp” not resolving into a usable symbolic.
The main point is that I have no idea how this stuff shows up on other OS/browser combinations. I guess that it is not safe to simply guess that the symbolics will resolve the way we want them to. (The joys of UBB.)
* * *
Tom~
---
### Author:  [@Lord\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Jim)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/14 "2000-04-26T02:07:00Z")
**Tom** , the problem isn’t UBB. It’s just differences in browsers. The code for an _ampersand_ is &. To Netscape, the semi-colon _is_ important. To IE5, it _isn’t_. I think all the codes are suppose to have a semi-colon on the end, IE just lets you get away without it.
To be safe, I try to avoid the shortcuts that some browsers will let you get away with since you never know what people are going to be using to view this stuff.
Jim
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/15 "2000-04-26T02:32:00Z")
Actually, looking at the HTML, it seems that I have two \s, and Lynx collapses those into a single \. Hrm. I think there’s an option to change that behaviour.
* * *
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
---
### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/16 "2000-04-26T02:39:00Z")
Thank you, **Jim**. When **Arnold W** posted his codes, he included the semi-colons, but I thought they were column separators instead of integral characters in the symbols.
I will now foolishly try this again:
**xekul** , I see blank lines in each of your posts. (?)
UBB will eliminate some excess lines, but it will not eliminate all of them so that your paragraphs run together.
If you absolutely _must_ manually enter a blank line, enter the character string on each line that you need to hold in place:
\< enter \> (for new line)
\< enter \>
\< enter \>
\< enter \>
\< enter \>
Gives you four blank lines that UBB will not collapse:
(Obviously, I have messed with the codes to display the , above, or they would have appeared as spaces, not text.)
* * *
Tom~
---
### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/17 "2000-04-26T02:41:00Z")
Hmmm, interesting. I just posted over in GQ using a ² ( ² ), but I put it next to a ) so UBB put the ; with the ) and made a 😉 but I use IE, so the ² displayed as a ², with the 😉 afterwards. I was wondering how they both used the semicolon. I guess that if I looked at it in Netscape it would show up as ² 😉
I’ll be slightly proud of myself if this entire post came out right.
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/18 "2000-04-26T03:11:00Z")
I’ve never considered nbsp… I’ve always just assumed ampersand codes would be processed as HTML. I’ll try that, thanks.
Testing one.
Testing one two.
Testing one two three.
* * *
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/19 "2000-04-26T03:12:00Z")
Yay! It worked! I love you all.
* * *
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
---
### Author:  [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paragraph-separation/1471/20 "2000-04-26T03:18:00Z")
Hm. I just viewed this in Netscape Navigator and it’s beautiful. So I guess for most of the readers there’s actually nothing wrong with the formatting.
## Sigh. Another big deal over nothing.
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.