[wellylug] WellyLUG List Noise Levels

[Tony Booth]

From: Jethro Carr [mailto:dodocaptain at paradise.net.nz] 
Sent: Thursday, 30 October 2003 4:20 p.m.
To: LUG
Subject: Re: [wellylug] WellyLUG List Noise Levels

> No, this is really bad, for many people such as I, who uses mostly
simple 
> HTML emails like this, or footers.
>

It may be bad for you, but then the alternative may be even worse for
others.  A number of mail clients cannot display HTML or graphics at
all, and some other clients have to call on other programs to do so. (I
use Outlook at work because I am forced to, and it can do HTML, but I
mostly use mutt at home).  

See
http://lists.cs.columbia.edu/pipermail/ornet/2003-August/008045.html),
written by a NZ icon, and particularly this paragraph:

* If your mail program supports fancy formatting (bold, italic and so
on) in the mail messages it generates, make sure that the recipient
has a mail program that can display such messages. At the time of
writing, most Internet mail programs do not support anything other
than plain text in messages, although this will change over time.

If you are posting to a list, rather than a single recipient, assume
that there will be at least some people who can't support the fancy
stuff.

> How ever, I could make a text based signature file...
> 
Yup.

> But most people do use html mail, and many web mail accounts force you
too, 
> and It's time to face that many emails are sent in HTML. 

The fact that it happens doesn't automatically imply it is right.  

If you want plain text web mail, try Yahoo and click the 'plain' link at
the top of the compose screen.  When I do it once, it remembers my
preference on future occasions. 

I've never tried Hotmail, but I found this with a quick google: "In the
Compose window of Hotmail, if you see a Toolbar immediately above the
section where you type your message, then your message will be sent as a
Rich-Text message in HTML format. To revert to "Plain Text", look
immediately above the left side of that toolbar for the "Tools"
selection box. Click on the arrow, and then click on "Rich Text Editor
OFF." A warning window will pop up asking if you want to do this --
click OK. The toolbar will disappear and you will now be set up to send
in Plain Text format."  Don't know if that is current or not.

In Mozilla/Netscape and Outlook, it is a simple matter of selecting an
option (in Outlook, select Plain Text from the Format menu when
composing an e-mail).

>If you run a GUI, 
> there is no real excuse not to have a HTML compatible email program...

Well there are a couple of reasons not to:

1) too resource intensive on older machines (but could use a combination
of mutt for e-mail and lynx for text-only html).
2) security risks from HTML e-mail (e.g. scripting, ActiveX etc,
auto-download of images, depending on version used -- later versions are
usually better but also hog more resources!)

> (My Opinion)

Yup.  And you are entitled to it, but you should expect it to be
challenged. :-)

And finally, let me ask you this (please excuse me playing the Devil's
Advocate): if one person on the list sent all their e-mail as MS Word
(.doc format) attachments, because they found it convenient, would you
argue that everybody should run MS Office?  (This is no joke, one person
I know actually sends all their e-mail this way using the File->Send To
Mail Recipient option in Word!).

Plain text is readable for pretty much everybody, reduces internet
traffic, reduces (or at least doesn't introduce) security risks, and
works well for people with older machines or non-gui setups.  

(Fact)

I know it can cause a little inconvenience, but for the benefit of a
minority, would you consider giving it a try?

Cheers
Tony