Re: [Fsfe-uk] Administrivia: html duplicates

[Andrew Savory]

Hi,

On 1/25/08, MJ Ray <address@hidden> wrote:
> I'm not keen because: it's usually duplication which adds no content;
> lists.gnu.org is already overloaded sometimes and doubling the size of
> each outgoing message would make things worse; and html'ing emailers
> make the same sort of painful colour/font screwups as unskilled
> webmasters.

Duplication: usually true, though sometimes arguably the use of e.g.
colour can add additional meaning to content. Though not necessarily
for this audience, which only sees in black and white ;-)

lists.gnu.org sounds like a problem regardless of mail: is there a
plan to upgrade it or should we consider moving this list to a better
host?

As for html'ing emailers: sometimes even proficient non-html'ing
emailers fall into the trap of sending html emails (especially road
warriors who are forced to use multitudinous web mail clients). Which
is worse - loss of their contribution or a triple-size colourful mail?

FWIW, our internet traditions which we fought to preserve so long and
hard are now a troublesome barrier to entry in a number of fields in
FLOSS communities, not just mailing lists. The "facebook generation"
are less patient with clunky ssh-based or command-line based tools but
are no less valuable contributors for all that. The idea that they
should care what format their emails are sent in is a little absurd
when we're trying to gain an audience in the first place.


A.