On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Douglas Mayle wrote: > Okay folks, this is the third message about the MIME content type of my > email on a list that's supposed to be about ananconda development. Any > future problems, please mail me directly... > > 1. HTML Formatting > My mail client sends out email with an HTML formatting, and with a > text/plain formatting. If you don't like HTML, don't view it. What's that, It's not so simple. HTML expands the size of your message by, base don measurements I've made in the past, something like 900%. This acutally costs recipients real actual money. People you have the gall to ask for help. Many people simply pass such mail to /dev/null. The people who do that are, as a group, more likely to be able to help you than those who don't because they've been on these lists long enough to become tired of your rudeness, and they have the skill to create mail filters to drop it. Rather than defend yourself, best to say, "Sorry," and to mend your ways. > you see gobbledy gook in your mail client? The fact is, most major > text-only mail clients now support MIME tagging, so upgrade. Not your > decision? Send an email to your administrator. Mutt, and pine, and I'm > sure many others correctly handle the mail, so there are options out there. > > 2. My .sig > .sig's are often vanity items. People like to put in their favorite quote > or witticism. Know what? Mine's smaller than most. It's a single link, > and a short URL, at that. But it's an external link, you say, making it If someone is using dial on demand, following that link makes a phone call and costs even more money. > much larger? Turn off the downloading of external links in your mail > reader. I could have it embedded into the message, but I choose to provide > an external link so that people can have their choice about whether or not > to view my vanity plate. > > 3. Netiquette issues > If you think HTML email on mailing lists is a problem, ask the maintainers You fix yous sins. Don't push the responsibility on to someone else. Whatever the people who setup the list intended, it's the community of people on the list who determine what is acceptablle. Nobody is offended by well-formated plain text. Many people are offended by so-called enhancements such as HTML. If you want a quiet life, post in plain text, wrap your lines at a reasonable width. > of the mailing list to strip those MIME sections, or block messages with > HTML altogether. As long as they allow it, I'm going to use it, as it is my > preferred method of communication, allowing me to be more expressive than > plain text alone. > > The fact is, more detailed message formats are here to stay. People want > more freedom of creative expression, and will choose formats that give them > this. > > So to sum up. If you have a problem with HTML, don't view it. If you have Just don't do it. > a problem with external links, don't download them. If you have a problem > because your mail client doesn't support these items, upgrade, or write a > patch yourself. This is a DEVELOPER's mailing list for crissakes. We are > empowered in world of software, do something about it. And finally, if > you're bitching because you can't write a patch for your mail client like > Outlook, or Eudora, than switch to an open source one. It's a list where people come for help. Best be on your best behaviour, to maximise you chances of getting help. Nobody is paid to read this list or provide help. Most of the people who hang out here do so to help, not to seek help. Twits like you tend to annoy those who do hang out to help so they give up and go away. Finally, don't anyone write to me off list, I simply will not see it. -- Please, reply only to the list.
