On Sat, 27 Sep 2003, Siddhesh Poyarekar spake thusly:
Next LUG meet: 11 Oct 2003 around 4 pm - VJTI Mech Dept
Blocking any attachments is fine, but blocking html to favour plain text would be like buying a new computer just because your operating system doesn't support it. Why can't there be html support into procmail, mutt, etc (lynx code could provide a hint)? We're trying to get people interested in GNU/Linux, not to tell them "You are welcome, but only on our conditions. Don't use html mailing. Don't call GNU/Linux as Linux (boy do we have flame fests on that one)....".
I dont care if my next door idjut does not use GNU/Linux. I dont care if everyone in my building used Windowz. /I/ am subscribed to his list and read it. HTML does not add *anything* to it while increasing the mail size unnecessarily. My mail reader can take care of HTML very easily : either strip it off with one keystroke or display it using a html renderer. But I gain absolutely nothing from the html. These are message exchanges -- of information and maybe sometimes wisdom. Text suffices.
All I heard from the mutt and procmail users here is "change mailing list policies for us because our systems don't like them". Why doesn't anyone come forward and say "lets start a mini project to incorporate html support into procmail/mutt".
you dont get the point. People /dont/ like HTML. I dont. Not in emails. I like my usual plain proportional text messages which are easy on the eye. My email client can very beautifully colorise them according to the quoting depth. etc.etc.
The whole concept of GNU/Linux being a geeks OS only is being stressed here by saying "you gotta learn alternate (probably dificult for some) ways to express yourself by using your imagination. If you're not good enough then Linux is not for you.. go to your sucky windows".
damn right. But where did you get the silly idea that using plain text is "probably difficult" than using HTML ? If anything it is simpler.
Ban html messages and lose the initiative on getting newbies into the GLUG. Getting warning messages the first time doesn't exactly seem to be a welcoming sign for any newbie probably struggling to install the OS on his system. Let it remain an elitist group then. Made up only of GEEKS.
Interested people will get in no matter how many difficulties -- and I dont see these as difficulties at all. And I would rather have 10 interested people than 1000 idiots here.
BTW other mailing lists like BLUG-* also have no HTML policy...