Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 20:53:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Quoting
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

MarkLFischer at aol.com wrote:

> My email client has all manner of wonderful features, all of which
> choke Keith's filters.  If I turn them off to use text-only, the
> software basically stomps out to the yard to eat bugs and makes me
> format everything by hand.

It doesn't let you use your favorite text editor or word processor to
compose and format your message?

Email "wonderful features" that aren't "text-only" is an oxymoron.
If you mean HTML, they cause messages to become three two five times
the size.  If the reader is using plain text, he sees your message as
choked with tangled unreadable messes of angle brackets and ampersands.

Also, since the vast majority of spam is HTML, and the vast majority
of legitimate email is plain text, plenty of people, companies, and
even whole ISPs silently discard all HTML email.  Especially since
HTML can be used to convey viruses, web bugs, and other unwanted
malware.  You may have been sending people "wonderful features" for
years, and never noticing that your email hasn't been received.

What are these features, anyway?  Blinking text?  Multiple colors?
Different fonts and sizes?  Those are fine if you're designing a
garish ad or sign, especially if it's for a casino, but why would you
want such features in email?  Plain text is good enough for *books*,
after all.

> I quote brief snippets mostly because I don't feel like typing a
> hundred angle brackets at the beginning of lines.

As good a reason as any.  As I mentioned, one should only quote enough
text to establish context.  A good rule of thumb is to quote only the
text that you would *retype* if your mailer didn't quote it for you.
If you wouldn't bother to retype it, don't include it.  Thanks.