Jargons of Info Tech industry

[Rich Teer]

On Sun, 9 Oct 2005, Roedy Green wrote:

> This is pulling a King Canute.  There is not even a mechanism in email
> protocols to warn your correspondents of your demand.  I have been

Yes there is: the message my server sends someone sending me HTML
says so quite plainly.  That Outhouse (and presumably other WIndoze
email clients) choses to not display the real message and put up
some other generic, "user friendly" (but totally techie useless)
message besides the point.

> There is nothing wrong with formatted text. You are confusing
> formatted text with spam.
>
> You think you hated formatted text, but you really hate spam.

Please don't presume to think for me.  I've been using email and
the Internet for over 10 years, and I think I can differentiate
between spam and formatted text.  I hate spam, that's a given.
But I hate spam that's in plain text as well as formatted text.

I hate HTML email for several reasons, including:

	1. it's wasteful of bandwidth

	2. it enourages people to put form over content

	3. it doesn't display properly on my email client of choice,
	   which, BTW, I've been using in various versions for 10+
	   years.

There are probably others, but you get my drift.  You'll also notice
that I deliberately didn't list the security issues.  HTML is for
web sites, not email.

> If your lover sent you a message with photo, and even musical
> accompaniment, I doubt you would feel offended.  It is the CONTENT
> bugging you, not the HTML.

No it isn't.  And my wife knows better than to do that.  When she
sends me virtual boquets, she does so in the correctmanner: she
sends me a plain text link to a web site that does all the fancy
stuff, including background music.  That is how it should be.

> You imagine that the two are inexplicably linked. That is just because

No I don't.

> Eudora warns you of deceptive links in HTML. There are many more such

I am fortuanate enough to not use Windoze.

> unfair to blame formatting for the foolish practice off allowing
> untrusted code to run without even an ok.  They have nothing to do
> with each other.

Agreed.  But as I said above, I have many other issues with HTML emails,
over and above the security concerns.

-- 
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich