[Babase] Sending multiple forms of the same message is not good

Karl O. Pinc babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:24:11 -0600


Hi,

Both Jeanne and Susan have been sending mail which has two
copies of what is written in each email.  See for example:

https://www.eco.princeton.edu/pipermail/babase/2004-February/000027.html

One copy is plain text, the other is html, as would appear if you
were writing a web page.  Both Susan and Jeanne are using Eudora,
which calls html-ized text 'styled text', as you can make
everything you write appear in blinking green lettering if you like.

Unless you've a particular reason to want some sort of speical
display, which in any case may not appear to your recipient as it does
to you, it is a good idea to turn off the sending of html-ized email.

In Eudora you change the setting labled "Styled Text" to "text only"
from "send both text and styled text".

On a related note, it's not a particularly good idea for your
email program to act as a web browser and display stuff from
the web that wasn't sent as part of the email itself, for
example the pictures that are referenced in html-ized email
that is sent to you.  One way that spammers know their mail
was received by a person is that your email program will
call up a picture off their server when you look at an email
they've sent you.

In Eudora you turn this off by going into the option
"Fonts and Display" and unchecking the box labeled something
like "display pictures in html."

(I'm Cc-ing Axel as he's the one who's got to support you
if you break your Eudora somehow.)

Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein