🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>>> "DJ" == Dan Jacobson writes:

 DJ> Dear Sirs, my twerp little brother says:
 AFJ> So, mom tells me that you have been complaining about the html
 AFJ> and long lines in her e-mail.  Well... I hate to say it but
 AFJ> berkeley mail is just outa style these days. You should really
 AFJ> get the latest netscape-virus installed on your linux box, so you
 AFJ> can deal with 'rich content' like the rest of us.

 DJ> This got me soul searching.  Am I just old fashioned for wanting a
 DJ> newline every 80 chars or so [in the text part of the multipart
 DJ> message]?  Sure, I can see the wrapped lines, but shall I reformat
 DJ> them...  wait: isn't the modern concept that they give me device
 DJ> independent content, and I process for my device?  I.e. it's my
 DJ> problem, not theirs?

Well... I believe, Internet is really big. So, it's unlikely to have
common and standartized ``fashion'' among all members.

It's true, that _some_ people use bad (according not only to my
subjective feelings) MUAs and newsreaders -- and they can and should be
understood, for it's mainly caused by the fact, they don't manage to
know of and learn to use something different.

In fact, is there a MUA, that is enough:

1. standards compatible... I mean, it can produce standard messages and
   enforces new users doing so;

2. attractive to newcomers -- esp. to the ones, having no need and no
   will to learn something more, than an ``intuitive UI''?

I doubt so.

Yeah, there was Pine -- a really nice attempt -- but the time of text
terminals is gone. Yeah, there's The Bat, but you need to pay for it,
download it, then install (Why do I need it all? -- they say, -- I
already have a mail client in my OS!)... -- and after all this many
users still don't like it in favor on Outlook, which is more colorful
and uses variable-width fonts (we know the harm of the latter, but they
don't -- it seems to be just... more visually appealing to 'em).

There were really tradegies, when in spite of e-mail worms, sysadmins
forced theis users not to use Outlook.

That's sad. But anyway this style of behaving with email shouldn't be
copied. Even vice versa.

Think of a situation, where a professional driver amuses of the number
of the green-green newcomers and decided, that if every good driver
would mimic their behaviour (ignoring signs, crashing into each other,
etc.) -- they can all co-exist on the same road. IMHO, that's nonsense.

For myself, I've solved this problem in a simple way. It's my case, do I
have lynx do browse HTML messages or not. If I can't read the message
(it's HTML, RTF, windows-1251 codepage or simply is very badly
formatted), I delete it instead of reading. I also /can/ write him back
stating, I couldn't read his message (this is done automatically by
procmail with windows-1251 messages here -- they're deleted and an
auto-response is sent).

If a person can't afford himsef to make his message readable, I surely
can't afford myself making it readable. Period.

-- 
                     With respect, Vasily Korytov

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