META: use plain text for emails, please!

From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Fri Sep 21 2001 - 15:16:32 MDT


Here are instructions for setting up Netscape Communicator 4.* for
text-only messages. Perhaps others can supply instructions for other
email clients. This is straight from Communicator's Edit/Preferences:

In Preferences
        Mail & Newsgroups

        Display plain text messages and articles with
        [X] Fixed width font

        Identity

        Make yourself a text signature file. Do *not* use vCard.

        Messages

        Be default, forward messages: [Quoted]

        [X] Automatically quote the original message when replying, then [start
my reply below the quoted text]. (Be sure to edit the original message)

        Message Wrapping
        Wrap outgoing, plain text messages at 72 characters

        Formatting

        [X] Use the plain text editor to compose messages.

        When sending HTML mail messages
        [X] Ask me what to do...

        (This will remind you to question why the hell you are sending someone
an html message in the first place)

Imho, using html for email and using email clients that are way too
smart for their own good (Outlook) is delaying the Singularity by years,
leading to the premature deaths of millions. As a digest subscriber I
never see any html anyway, it's all convoluted up with the text messages
hence I get both text and html source versions, not to mention the
occassional binary attachment coming in as uuencoded text. Imho people
should consider an incoming html-formatted email as an attack on their
computer justifying a lethal response. Unless of course they have a
death-wish and are using Outlook.

Thanks,
        -Mike

-- 
======================================================================
Michael Wiik
Principal
Messagenet Communications Research
Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants
http://messagenet.com
mwiik@messagenet.com
======================================================================



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