=- Peter Davis wrote on Sun 2.Dec'12 at 8:54:58 -0500 -=
> Ok, this, more than any of the previous discussion, clarifies the
> situation for me. Within the global community of hundreds of
> millions of email users, there's a smaller, cloistered
> constituency of perhaps a few thousand who prefer the classic
> text-only tools of 30 and 40 years ago.
>
> {...}
>
> In my view, no amount of argument or evidence is going to change
> the minds of anyone in this smaller group. That's fine. Within the
> domain of lists that discuss these classic tools, we should adhere
> to the practices of that community.
I admit, I lost track of why there is even a conflict.
- some people send eMails to lists.
- other people read those.
- some of those eMails are badly formatted:
- html, long-lines, tofu, fotu, ...
- they're considered bad because there are cases where/ when such
formatting hurts:
- client can't reformat well enough to desired style.
- especially tofu, fotu.
- html, long-lines for simpler clients.
- blind people having to read useless full-quotes.
- clients for sender & receiver exist to allow for dynamic
reformatting as desired by sender & reader.
- applies to html + long-lines.
_GOOD_ sender clients should respect rfc3676 for "format-flowed",
which suggests that _raw_ messages should still be somehow
human-readable, even if the reader client couldn't deal with it.
For html-junkies there is 'multipart/alternative'... (even though I
hate such waste, it's better than html-only).
For stuff like fotu, tofu, where no client can deal with this
nonsense, the human behind it is required to respect the reader.
So... Peter, Tony, if you (and the _majority_ of mail-users) would
use _SUCH_ tools, then _everybody_ would be happy and nobody would
have the need to complain about anything...
But ... you require every _reader_ to upgrade rather than every
sender... why is this?
I recommend to all of you to (re-)read rfc3676.
Have a nice reading.
--
© Rado S. -- You must provide YOUR effort for your goal!
EVERY effort counts: at least to show your attitude.
You're responsible for ALL you do: you get what you give.
