On Fri, 19 Feb 1999, Rich Kulawiec wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 19, 1999 at 08:36:55AM -0800, Chuq Von Rospach wrote:
> > But he's right. This is the SAME BLOODY ARGUMENT as NetScape vs.
> > Lynx, but in email form. Users are migrating from Lynx-type email
> > systems to NetScape ones. And the people who love Lynx are screaming
> > at being left behind.
>
> No, we're not. At least *I'm* not.
>
> My gripe is with the mindlessness exhibited by many (most?) of those who
> have joined this migration. If they were actually doing so with
> a *purpose*, I wouldn't mind so much: but it very much seems to
> me that most of them just happen to like the widgets and geegaws,
> and have decided to inflict them (and all the useless baggage that
> they encompass) on the rest of the civilized world for NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
Though I _currently_ bounce HTML and other attachments or strongly
discourage their use on a few mailing lists I administer, I have a
problem with the above stance.
There may be folks (like me :-) who may not have much of a *purpose*
in posting to mailing lists! Shouldn't newbies be allowed to quote
a whole 10K msg and add the sole thoughtful comment "I agree" and
post to the whole list? Won't it be at least bearable, if each of
those zillion messages are nicely formatted with different colors,
fonts and blinking?
My point is that many newbies cut their teeth by doing things
that irk the pros. They gradually (hopefully) grasp the "concept"
of a mailing list and then may contribute to the list. The current
HTML may be unduly complex for email use, but if a meaningful
subset is agreed to (is there an RFC already?), vendors may implement
that. Many newbies genuinely do not understand what they are doing
when they send an email. If there is a happy compromise (or even a
workable one) that list-admins and graphics happy users can come
to, it may be a step in the right direction.
The subscribers are the folks who make a list what it is.
IMHO list managers should do what they can to make the life
of somebody who does not understand anything other than GUI, at
least bearable.
das
