COMM-ORG needs your advice on html messages

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From: Randy Stoecker <rstoecker at wisc.edu>

Thanks to all for the thoughtful comments on the question of html 
messages on the list. People were basically unanimous on making sure 
that plain text messages remained the standard on COMM-ORG.  I 
appreciate those who suggested possible ways to make html messages 
available without undermining the plain text standard and will pass some 
of those on.  I am also going to write this message showing some of the 
things you can do to write a visually-enhanced plain text e-mail.

***************
* The Problem *
***************

The problem of html messages is that they can _take up five times or 
more bandwidth_ compared to plain text e-mails, _spread viruses,_ _hide 
phishing attacks,_ and _invade privacy._  While the virus and phishing 
risks are pretty small for COMM-ORG messages, those who contract out 
their e-mail blasts may be unwittingly supporting invasion of privacy.  
Here is a nice short summary of the problems:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/plainttextemail.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In addition, really badly formatted multi-column html messages can be 
very difficult for screen-reading software, used by people with vision 
impairments.

**************
* Strategies *
**************

One of the best ways to deal with the problems of html messages is to 
simply not send them.  But some people report that they get a better 
response from html messages so they are going to keep sending them.  
Those who do that should at least send their messages in /multipart/ 
format, which produces both a plain text and html version.  The problem 
is that most people only pay attention to the html version, and the text 
version looks ridiculous.

*The best way* to write such a message is to write it as plain text 
first, so that you get the appropriate line breaks, blank lines, and 
other plain text formatting down.  To do this you have to make sure that 
your software is actually set to allow you to write in plain text.  In 
Thunderbird, which I use, that is in the "options-->format" menu. Also 
make sure to set your font to "fixed width." ALso remember that e-mail 
software will wrap lines at a predetermined length--65 charactes is 
usually safe.  Type the message out fully, and then try adding your 
formatting.  That still won't work for all of your e-mail programs, but 
it's worth a try.  Then send the message to yourself, and find the 
function in your e-mail reader that allows you to view the /message source/.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

*Important*  Whatever you do, do not paste your e-mails from Microsoft 
Word, as it has stuff like smart quotes that will appear looking like 
swear words%&*$ in your e-mail. Use your  e-mail editor instead. This 
can also happen happen if you don't set your e-mail editor to plain 
text. Notepad, in Microsoft Windows, uses plain text with a fixed font.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Given people's responses, COMM-ORG will continue to send out plain text 
only messages.  Here are some of the options for those of you who still 
want readers to see your html messages:

1.  put the html message on your website and put the web address in your 
plain text message.

     ====================================
          DO NOT make a clickable link.
          TYPE OUT the address
     ====================================

2.  send a plain text e-mail to other lists and invite people to 
subscribe to your own list.

*Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this.*

Randy Stoecker
moderator/editor, COMM-ORG

Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
> --------
>  
> Hi COMM-ORG,
>
> Even at a time when there are still many users, particularly in rural 
> areas, who are limited to dial-up Internet access, many users with 
> vision impairments, many users with 5 year old or more computers, and 
> the Internet gatekeepers threatening to charge by the byte, an 
> increasing number of e-mail users are sending large, heavily formatted 
> messages with pictures and embedded links to the list.  The most common 
> source of such messages are national organizations.  When the listserver 
> converts those messages to plain text, they are often impossible to read 
> and the links do not work.
>
> I have contacted each of the organizations sending out problem messages, 
> but have received no response.  So I feel caught between bad choices.  
> On the one hand, any organization devoted to community empowerment 
> should make sure that all of its communication is accessible to the 
> least resourced members of its constituency--that means every message 
> should be readable as plain text with typed out links.  Not doing so, in 
> my mind, is exclusionary. So my preference is to simply not forward such 
> messages through the list.  But doing so would eliminate your access to 
> any list messages from those organizations.  The second choice is to 
> reconfigure the list server to forward formatted e-mail messages, 
> increasing the download times for dial-up users and the frustration 
> level of those using screen readers.  It would also increase the risk of 
> virus transmission, though not substantially. The third choice is to 
> forward all messages to the list as plain text and to put a note at the 
> beginning for you all to contact the sender to complain that their 
> message doesn't make sense and their links don't work. 
>
> So, I need your advice.  As always, on internal list issues, I won't 
> forward your message on this issue to the list unless you request it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Randy Stoecker
> moderator/editor, COMM-ORG
> rstoecker at wisc.edu
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