On 16 Jan 2001, 20:41, mailman wrote:
> One word for you, Alan: demime.
Thanks, Duc, but I was already familiar with demime. Demime teaches
nothing. My method carries a lesson with it.
> Like you, I was plagued with bounced HTML messages on my list, and
> with the onslaught of AOL 6.0, which reputedly sends only HTML mail, I
> knew something had to be done. And that something is demime
> (http://scifi.squawk.com/demime.html).
>
> I asked my server people to install it on their server, because
> that's where it needs to be to work. All mail destined for the list is
> piped through demime, and presto, all the junky HTML and MIME stuff is
> weeded out, and only the text portion is sent on to the list. My life is
> blissfully free of HTML bounces since then.
Our Majordomo is on a separate server and our host has not indicated
any interest in installing demime, despite some majordomo owners
advocating it. So I would not be able to install it myself even if I
was in favor of using it.
I too weed out all the junky HTML and MIME stuff. The difference is
that the person that made the mistake does not gain from it. They lose
with my method and from that experience, hopefully they will have a
little better understanding of the errors of their ways. Demime is
just way too forgiving in my mind for what is a major problem in the
Internet.
> demime adds a couple of headers to the e-mail to let you know which
> piece of mail it works its magic on:
>
> X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97b
> X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain
>
> Check with your server to see if they can install demime for you. And
> forget about HTML bounces.
Duc, my Administrative post was intended to be instructive rather than
complaining. I am trying to point out that every time I get a bounce
due to it being sent in HTML, I am not the harmed, but rather the
sender is their own victim. I was not in any way complaining to my
members, but trying to beseech them to listen to me when I point out
the properness of posting in plain text and the ill advisement of
posting to discussion mailing lists using HTML.
Consider this hypothetical...suppose someone is carrying an email virus
that everytime he posts to lists he unknowingly sends a large binary
file that contains a virus. If he posted to a couple of mailing lists
that used demime, then he would not learn of his potential danger to
himself and others. Nor would anyone be in position to warn him. He
might continue to post to lists and then hit one list with several
subscribers who are newbies to the Internet and spread that large
binary to many recipients.
If he posted to my list, the posting would bounce to me. It would be
no danger to anyone on my list. Only myself would be "hit". I know
how to deal with files like that. I can handle it safely. I also know
how to swiftly deal with thoughtless people who do not know what harm
they can cause by sending email with binary attachments to mailing
lists and make it a learning experience at the same time. And if I
happen to believe that the person was innocently carrying a virus, I
could at least warn him or her about that.
That recently happened to me. On another list I got a bounce of a
binary attachment that I immediately recognized as a virus. I was able
to send the subscriber the news that he needed to clean his system.
This subscriber may not have learned about the virus were I to use
demime. And he would still be sending that virus throughout the
Internet.
Alan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
