PLEASE don't use HTML mail. Can we block it?

[Stanley Hopcroft]

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for your letter on a matter of some interest 
to me and say, 

On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 01:09:37PM -0500, Carroll, Jim P [Contractor] wrote:
> Which of course would nail hand-cobbled comments which use
> < ... >.  Such as the ones that Mr Hopcroft uses.
> 
 
Quite right. Prefixing paragraphs by tags such as

 <rant>
 <off_topic>
 <X-fave-rave>

is reasonably common.

In any case, there are _far_ better ways to strip multi-part mail with 
HTML parts than the one proposed (perl -pe 's/<.*?>//gm').

(eg the one Randell Schwartz published in his column in SysAdmin mag in 
the last few years.)

> If it bothers you so much, why don't you just add a mail filter
> to your MTA or MUA?
> 

Right on.

Although from my point of view, regime change on the part of writers 
repudiating and renouncing sloppy expression and poor presentation is 
the means I favour.

As others have said there are _many_ arguments against HTML including

 . reducing the likelihood of replies from those who find the cost of
replying - editing mailcap or saving and firing up a browser - to HTML
too expensive (HTML mail doesn't get read by me, unless I know the 
author has a history of saying useful things)

. wasting bandwidth and _costing_ the reader more to open. Not everyone 
has cheap broadband.

. search engines (such as gmane) may simply drop HTML letters. Why 
should they pay to convert it ?

People must remember that a list is a society. Replies and Problem 
reports can be a blessing or a curse, to those who read the 
'transactions' later with the same problem or question.

One not only has to have something to say but to make sure that it is 
readable.

Put another way, once the oustanding developers and contributors start 
using HTML mail, I will review my preferences.

> jc
> 
>

Yours sincerely. 



-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanley Hopcroft
------------------------------------------------------------------------

'...No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a
manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee...'

from Meditation 17, J Donne.


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