[Tex/LaTex] How to format an email conversation

Question

I am currently writing my thesis and need to include a bunch of email conversions. I am using classicthesis. I wonder, how you would format stacked conversions. Moreover, how would you deal with the email header, signatures and line breaks: why do I need to add \\ all the time?
This is the configuration I am currently experimenting with:

\documentclass[
oneside,
openright,
titlepage,
dottedtoc,
numbers=noenddot,
headinclude,
footinclude=true,
cleardoublepage=empty,
abstractoff,
BCOR=5mm,
paper=a4,
fontsize=11pt,
ngerman,
american
]
{scrreprt}

\PassOptionsToPackage{utf8}{inputenc}
\usepackage{inputenc}
\usepackage{blindtext} 
\usepackage{framed}

% Vertical line that highlights quotations in an email.
% Use \begin{leftbar} and \end{leftbar} environment.
% Width of the line = 0.4pt
% Space between the line and the text = 10pt
% Requires \usepackage{framed}
\renewenvironment{leftbar}{%
  \def\FrameCommand{\vrule width 0.4pt \hspace{10pt}}%
  \MakeFramed {\advance\hsize-\width \FrameRestore}}%
{\endMakeFramed}

\usepackage{nicefrac}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[pdfspacing]{classicthesis}

\begin{document}
\selectlanguage{ngerman} % american ngerman
% Disable paragraph indentation.
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}




\begin{verbatim}
From: john.doe@yahoo.com
Subject: Your inquiry from 20042012
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 11:34:54 +0200
To: Jane Doe <jane.doe@hotmail.com>
\end{verbatim}

Jane Doe wrote:
\begin{leftbar}
\begin{leftbar}
\begin{leftbar}
\begin{leftbar}
There are a couple of questions I like to ask. Please forward them if you cannot do so.
\end{leftbar}
I hope I can answer them after holidays.
\end{leftbar}
I am back from holidays now and will look through your questionaire the next days.
\end{leftbar}
Thank you, Mr. Doe - I am awaiting your answers.
\end{leftbar}

Dear Mrs. Doe,\\
\ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut molestie placerat pharetra. In quam leo, tincidunt ut consequat eget, malesuada sit amet urna. Morbi et interdum arcu. Nullam nisi nunc, ullamcorper vitae pulvinar eu, suscipit ut augue.\\
\ Donec risus mi, accumsan ac interdum id, molestie sed mauris. Suspendisse porttitor luctus justo in ullamcorper. Proin in neque magna. Mauris quis arcu eget enim mattis pharetra vitae a dolor. Nam aliquam consectetur mollis. Ut at sem quis dolor faucibus fringilla. Quisque cursus vehicula odio, vitae placerat ipsum dapibus id.\\
\ Best regards\\
John Doe\\
\ (See attached file: Questions\_Doe.doc)

\begin{verbatim}
_______________________________________________________
Administration New York
John Doe
Mainstr. 3
11111 New York

T:        (011) 212-4301
F:            (011) 212-954301
M:         john.doe@yahoo.com
\end{verbatim}

\begin{leftbar}
My question
I looking forward to reading the answers to my questions:\\
\ 1. Is the world analog or digital?
\end{leftbar}
digital

\begin{leftbar}
2. How long does the world exist? 
\end{leftbar}
analog since 1984, digital since 1999

\end{document}  

This is what the above latex example looks like.

I also saw this similar question but I do not want to use > or colors. My settings are inspired by this French conversion and this question.

Answer 1

Your strategy is basically a good one. I suggest a few changes. To eliminate the annoying \\ that you asked about, just use a \parskip length to define skip between paragraphs. Then, the only \\ needed is when you need a linebreak within a paragraph (the only one here is in the salutation). Also, I found the leftbar environment not as easy to read (in the tex code source) as a structure. So I replaced it with the macro structure named \embed. Also, to save space on the output, I didn't have \embed automatically provide extra space upon entry, as leftbar did.

Obviously, these things are all a matter of taste. Conveying the information clearly to the reader is all that matters

\documentclass[
oneside,
openright,
titlepage,
dottedtoc,
numbers=noenddot,
headinclude,
footinclude=true,
cleardoublepage=empty,
abstractoff,
BCOR=5mm,
paper=a4,
fontsize=11pt,
ngerman,
american
]
{scrreprt}

\PassOptionsToPackage{utf8}{inputenc}
\usepackage{inputenc}
\usepackage{blindtext} 
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[pdfspacing]{classicthesis}

\usepackage{scalerel}
\usepackage{calc}
\global\newcounter{embedlevel}
\global\newlength\embedspace
\embedspace=2ex
\setcounter{embedlevel}{1}

\newcommand\embed[1]{%
  \stepcounter{embedlevel}%
  \stretchrel{\rule{0.2ex}{1ex}}{\hspace{1.8ex}\parbox{%
    \textwidth-\value{embedlevel}\embedspace}{%
    \rule{0ex}{2ex}#1\rule[-1.3ex]{0ex}{1.3ex}%
  }}%
  \vspace{.5ex}%
  \addtocounter{embedlevel}{-1}%
}

\parskip 1.5ex
\begin{document}
\selectlanguage{ngerman} % american ngerman
% Disable paragraph indentation.
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}

\begin{verbatim}
From: john.doe@yahoo.com
Subject: Your inquiry from 20042012
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 11:34:54 +0200
To: Jane Doe <jane.doe@hotmail.com>
\end{verbatim}

Jane Doe wrote:

\embed{%
  \embed{%
    \embed{%
      \embed{%
        There are a couple of questions I like to ask. Please forward them if
        you cannot do so.
      }
      I hope I can answer them after holidays.
    }
    I am back from holidays now and will look through your questionaire the next days.
  }
  Thank you, Mr. Doe - I am awaiting your answers.
}

Dear Mrs. Doe,

Nullam nisi nunc, ullamcorper vitae pulvinar eu, suscipit ut augue.

Donec risus mi.  Nam aliquam consectetur mollis. Ut at sem quis dolor
faucibus fringilla. Quisque cursus vehicula odio, vitae placerat ipsum
dapibus id.

Best regards,\\
John Doe

(See attached file: Questions\_Doe.doc)

\begin{verbatim}
_______________________________________________________
Administration New York
John Doe
Mainstr. 3
11111 New York

T:        (011) 212-4301
F:            (011) 212-954301
M:         john.doe@yahoo.com
\end{verbatim}

\embed{%
My question
I looking forward to reading the answers to my questions:

1. Is the world analog or digital?
}

digital

\embed{%
2. How long does the world exist? 
}

analog since 1984, digital since 1999


\end{document}