[postgis-users] HTML Mails

[Mark Fenbers]

Info I just learned... might be helpful to those on the list who were as 
oblivious as me.  In Thunderbird, select 
Tools->Options->Composition->SendOptions->PlainTextDomains->Add... then 
type in postgis.refractions.net to have any mail sent with this domain 
be converted automatically to Plain Text, regardless of what your 
default HTML settings are...

Mark

Mark Fenbers wrote:

> Gino, you make good points!
> However, this is an e-mail list, not a Usenet Newsgroup bulletin 
> board.  This means that to participate in the requested fashion, one 
> would need to turn off the HTML formatting for each individual message 
> sent to this post (and leave it one for all the other e-mail we send 
> throughout the day).  Do all mail clients have this capability and do 
> all users know how to exploit this capability?  And would we remember 
> to do it each time?  Some companies and gov't agencies encourage, if 
> not require, HTML messages for their correspondence.  The advantage of 
> a USENET Newsgroup is that the e-mail client can automatically prevent 
> HTML for this account and allow it for normal e-mail correspondence.  
> Another significant advantage of newsgroup postings is that ISP's are 
> less likely to get peaved over so many messages in customers' 
> Inboxes.  (I just got a general "please, clean-up" message from my ISP 
> this morning.)  And as much as I enjoy you folks (compared to other 
> newsgroups with noticeably less manners), there are time spans when 
> I'm not working with PostgreSQL/PostGIS projects and don't want to be 
> forced to delete, read, or filter the messages.  For these reasons, I 
> would like to see this group be moved to a USENET (or preferably, an 
> RSS group).
>
> Mark
>
> Gino Lucrezi wrote:
>
>> I would like to add some points to what strk wrote about HTML mails.
>>
>> Please, please, DON'T send HTML emails.
>> If you really can't stop sending them, at least avoid sending them to 
>> mailing lists.
>>
>> The HTML format was created for web pages. This is not a web page, 
>> it's an email. Use Ascii for emails!
>>
>> Everyone can read Ascii.
>> Not everyone can read HTML.
>>
>> HTML is very bad in digests.
>> HTML means your email will be unreadable on the mailing list archives.
>> HTML means your email will be unsearchable on the mailing list archives.
>> Badly formed HTML can crash some readers.
>> An HTML mail within a web-based mail system might render badly.
>>
>> You might like to use HTML to specify 7 point, italic, 
>> watchamacallit-font.
>> The email recipient might like another font. He might - GASP - be 
>> unable to read it.
>>
>> And of course I am assuming that you aren't using HTML for nefarious 
>> purposes such as spying on the reader (yes, you can do it.. for 
>> example most spammers do it, nowadays).
>>
>> There are many more reasons to avoid HTML in mails.
>> See here, for example:
>> http://www.birdhouse.org/etc/evilmail.html
>>
>> But in the case of this mailing list, the two most important reasons are
>> - to keep your message readable to digest subscribers
>> - to keep your message readable in the list archives
>>
>> Hey, if you're posting, you want people to read your message.
>>
>> Some mail programs (notably Outlook and Outlook Express) have a 
>> factory setting to send HTML by default.
>>
>> Here you can find how to disable it in almost all mail clients:
>> http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Mail/nomime.html
>>
>>
>> Many mailing lists (including ones I manage for a personal project) 
>> strip all HTML or turn it into plain text.
>>
>> The tool I use is http://scifi.squawk.com/demime.html
>>
>> It also strips all attachments, which in most cases is good (in this 
>> list, however, it is good to be able to post test cases and patches 
>> as attachments)
>>
>> I don't know if Refractions will want to use this or another software 
>> to filter the mailing list... but in the meanwhile, please, refrain 
>> from using HTML in mails
>>
>> Gino Lucrezi
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> postgis-users mailing list
>> postgis-users at postgis.refractions.net
>> http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users
>>
>>  
>>
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>  
>
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