List policy/procedures [was Database health check/auditing]

George Neuner <gneuner2(at)comcast(dot)net> writes:

> On Sat, 17 Feb 2018 07:23:32 +1100, Tim Cross <theophilusx(at)gmail(dot)com>
> wrote:
>
>>Thomas Kellerer <spam_eater(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
>>
>>> Plus: trimming the original content, so that not the whole email
>>> thread is repeated in the quote.
>>
>>While I'm happy to comply, I disagree with trimming/editing the
>>thread. Certainly made sense when networks were slower and MUAs were
>>less sophisticated, but these days I prefer using a MUA which is able to
>>fold the original content and keep all the content in the message. This
>>reduces confusion, misunderstanding and incorrect attribution arising
>>from poor editing and makes it easy to reference the full discussion in
>>one spot rather than having to go back through messages putting it all
>>back together. YMMV.
>>
>>Tim
>
> The problem is that conversations rarely remained confined to a single
> topic [this thread for example 8-)].
>
> The list servers do have message size limits (independent of any email
> server limits). It isn't a problem for simple text messages, but a
> lot of people now are sending MIME messages that include all the text
> twice (or 3 times) plus embedded HTML+CSS formatting.
>
> On some lists, I have seen MIME messages (mostly sent from Google
> Groups users) that contain - not kidding - 5,000+ lines of hidden
> HTML+CSS surrounding a few lines of comment.
>
>
> I agree with you that messages should stand alone wrt to the subject
> they address. It's just that, too often, messages that contain a lot
> of quoted material have wandered considerably and so are mostly noise.
>
> YMMV,
> George

I certainly agree with the comments regarding MIME and bloody HTML
messages. Extending email to use HTML is something I've always
considered to have been a big mistake. In addition to the wasted
bandwidth, it has created far too many security problems. The whole
situation has been made worse by the appalling HTML generation of many
clients (I"m looking at you Microsoft!). Only this week yet another
exploit was discovered which uses MUA preview facilities and MIME/HTML
integration. As someone who is legally considered to be blind, I can
state categorically that email has become LESS accessible as a result of
these 'enhancements'.

However, I think the key takeaway from your comments is the need for all
of us to be a little more proactive when it comes to the subject
title. I agree 100% we should try to ensure we change the title when the
thread wanders off topic.

Tim
--
Tim Cross