I manage a Mailman list.  I believe the situation I describe is not one that can be corrected by changing the configuration, but would require coding changes.  (I would love to be wrong!)  As such I don't expect anything to be changed, but perhaps it can end up on someone's list of requested features for eventual consideration.

So here is the situation.

1. The list is text-only, so messages with fancy formatting are converted to simple text.  Attachments such as photos are discarded.

2. The maximum message size is set to 10KB.*

3. Messages with elaborate formatting, but little text are often larger than 10KB, so they are held for review.  That means the test for size comes BEFORE the message is "cleaned up" and reduced to simple text. My suggestion is to change the sequence of steps, so that the size filter is applied AFTER the message has been converted to plain text.

I hope that is clear enough. Yes, I understand changing the order of things is No Small Thing.  I figure it can't hurt to put it out there.

Thanks for listening!

Roy Harvey Beacon Falls, CT

• (Because subscribers replying to Digest messages regularly fail to remove the text of the Digest message they are replying to, the maximum message size is set to 10KB.  This also blocks messages with attached photos, which will be removed anyway because the list is text-only.  I review messages held because of size.  The ones with a full Digest are rejected with an explanation about removing the Digest being replied to.  The ones with photos attached are rejected with an explanation about putting them on the web and posting a link.  The ones that are blocked because they are long messages, or short messages with too much formatting, are approved.)