Plain-text email

Jordan <jordan (a) crowesnest.io>

Hello all,

Hope all is having a good day/night. I've noticed several emails on the
mailing lists are using html. Is there prehaps a suggestion in the
mailing list "rules" for using plain-text, so that everyone may be able
to read the emails?

If not, may we add it as a recommendation for partcipating in the
mailing list to use plain-text (if your email client/provider allows
it)? It sucks I can't read a few of the mails since I use a
terminal/plain-text only email client.

Thank you,

Jordan

Link to individual message.

BjΓΆrn WΓ€rmedal <bjorn.warmedal (a) gmail.com>

On Wed, 4 Nov 2020 at 04:31, Jordan <jordan at crowesnest.io> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> Hope all is having a good day/night. I've noticed several emails on the
> mailing lists are using html. Is there prehaps a suggestion in the
> mailing list "rules" for using plain-text, so that everyone may be able
> to read the emails?

Guilty as charged :)

Rules or not, I'll try to remember to switch to plain text mode in
gmail when writing to this ML. And don't be afraid to remind me again
:)

For anyone else using gmail and having a hard time finding this
option: in compose mode there's a three-dot menu button in the lower
right corner. That's where it's found.

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Jake Bauer <jbauer (a) paritybit.ca>

On Wed Nov 4, 2020 at 2:59 AM EST, Bj?rn W?rmedal wrote:
> For anyone else using gmail and having a hard time finding this
> option: in compose mode there's a three-dot menu button in the lower
> right corner. That's where it's found.

For others also wanting to use plaintext email, here is a website which
has instructions on setting up plaintext in various email clients and
web UIs, as well as an explanation of why plaintext is preferred by
many:

https://useplaintext.email/

--
Jake Bauer (~jbauer)
Web: https://www.paritybit.ca
Gem: gemini://paritybit.ca
PGP: 8A55 347B 2845 6BA7 0E43 B864 C3EB 9CAF 610B B4FB

ASCII ribbon campaign ? against HTML e-mail
http://www.asciiribbon.org | https://useplaintext.email

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Drew DeVault <sir (a) cmpwn.com>

https://useplaintext.email may be helpful.

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John Cowan <cowan (a) ccil.org>

On Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 10:31 PM Jordan <jordan at crowesnest.io> wrote:


> Hope all is having a good day/night. I've noticed several emails on the
> mailing lists are using html. Is there prehaps a suggestion in the
> mailing list "rules" for using plain-text, so that everyone may be able
> to read the emails?
>

After almost three decades of preaching and practicing the "plain text
only, no more than 80 columns, no top-posting EVAR" gospel of email, I have
concluded that it is now obsolete.

1) A sender that can *only* send text/html should definitely be off limits
still.  But one that sends the message in both text/html and text/plain (in
a multipart/alternative wrapper) is legitimate.  If the receiver's client
cannot cope with multipart/alternative and pull the text/plain version out
of it, the receiver really does need a new client at this point.  For
example, if I send a Gmail email (which has both formats) to myself at a
different account and read it with Mutt, I see the plain text properly.

2) If the receiver's window to read mail is less than 80
columns,
then the mail will look something like this, which is very
difficult to
read, especially when there is a lot of it.

3) Top-posting is still controversial, but I'll do it if I am making a
completely general and short reply, like "Can you give me more details?"



John Cowan          http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
"Hacking is the true football."  --F.W. Campbell (1863) in response to a
successful attempt to ban shin-kicking from soccer.  Today, it's biting.

Link to individual message.

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