On 11/17/05, Randomthots <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I thought this thread was played out (and OT) so I was going to just > ignore it, but there is one thing to consider: > > Q: Why is spam usually in html format? > > A: Because spam is advertising, a sales pitch. It has a hideously low > response rate, even for the small fraction that isn't filtered. The > people who design these advertisements know that they have maybe a > second or less to grab your attention, so they need to use the *most* > *effective* means of communication available.
Absolutely! +1 That's why websites aren't just plain text. Because pictures, links, formated text, alignment... All these things aid communication. Otherwise, we should strip Writer and just add a text editor to OpenOffice.org. The fact is that html-mail isn't going to disappear because you don't > like it, and even if it *was* somehow banished, that wouldn't make spam > go away. If anything, they would just have to crank out more of it to > make up for the lower hit ratio. If you want to rid the world of spam, > then I would suggest you get behind proposals that would change the > economics of the situation. I get plain-text spam all the time, and my email client is set up to accept HTML email, so it's not some sort of "regression". not all spam is HTML, and not all HTML email is spam. I get stuff like newsletters and op-in ads from people all the time that are in HTML format. But, again, this whole "I hate HTML email" thing is OT. In any case, this is all totally irrelevant to the question (which *is* > on topic at least) of using Writer to edit emails or the question of > including an email/calendar/pim client in a future incarnation of OOo. > The spammers are doing just fine without it AFAICT, and I strongly > suspect they have their own specialized tools for what they do. Having an HTML enabled email client as a part of, or that works seemlessly with, OpenOffice.org will not add to the SPAM population, nor will it take away from it. I will, however, aid users who have been asking for such a tool for years. This isn't about what's "necessary". Apart from food, clothing, and > shelter, there is very little in our modern world that is absolutely > necessary. This is about satisfying desires, and a whole lot of people > (not you, of course) see richly formatted email as a Good Thing(tm). > +1 and Amen. -- - Chad Smith http://www.gimpshop.net/ Because everyone loves free software!
