[wellylug] [Fwd: Govt guidance would guarantee our geek credentials (Green Party media release)]

jumbophut jumbophut at gmail.com
Sun Jul 11 17:38:05 NZST 2004


On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 11:56:28 +1200, Damon Lynch  wrote:

> On Sat, 2004-07-10 at 11:26, Ian Beardslee wrote:
> 
> > Of course who in their right mind sends HTML email anyway?  Before anyone
> > leaps - and those that use Outlook Express can't really be considered in
> > their right mind :-)
> 
> New Scientist does.  UN News does.  Human Rights Network does.  Oxfam as
> well.  Lots of organisations do.  Newsletters can be a lot easier to
> read when they're appropriately formatted.
> 

So send a link to a web page!

There are number of good reasons not to send HTML e-mail:

1) It increases traffic because of all the tags (no big deal if you
only have a few, but it makes a difference to ISPs)

2) It increases the likelihood of exploits because there is a lot of
code required to handle the formatting, and because some features
(e.g. javascript, ActiveX) are inherently dangerous.

3) People still use e-mail clients which don't support HMTL (one
imagines that people who have need of UN/HRN/Oxfam services fall into
this camp).

4) It's the number 1 sign that an e-mail is spam, and greatly
increases the likelihood that a Bayesian filter will send it to
oblivion.

In short, just because other people do it, doesn't mean you should.  

Sorry, way off-topic, but it's a pet peeve.

Tony




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