For lists with something non-Net related (i.e. real world) to talk about,
text still wins in my experience. The more mail people get, the more they
appreciate a simple text-only Digest on a daily topic of interest like WW1
aviation.
Nevertheless, there is a fraction of readers that actively wants and likes
to send HTML and attachments, etc. They are not the majority and they
should not dictate how things go for everybody else, but they exist.
There is another (growing) fraction that has no idea what HTML is, or what
the difference is between HTML vs. text, or attachments vs. quoting, or
which they are sending, or how to change settings to send something else, or
why anybody would care. They just know that Outlook Express or Eudora seems
to be working, and they press this button here.
My goal as a list administrator is to protect the rights and interests of
all members, including those who need or prefer plain text and low
bandwidth. I can't afford the smug foolishness of admins who jettison or
ignore plain-text members for being "behind the curve" (strangely
reminiscent of "get a real browser!!" on cretinous software-specific Web
pages).
What I wish I had were some tools that let me please the greatest number of
members. Maybe they exist and I haven't found them; maybe I'll have to
write some in my C.F.T. Specifically I wish that members could opt to
receive
* Plain text only (MIME-extracted from a multipart, or LYNX-rendered from
HTML, if necessary), OR...
* HTML/styled text;
* Individual messages, OR
* Concatenated "omnibus" Digest, OR
* Multipart MIME Digest;
* Attachments mailed as attachments to the message or Digest, OR
* Attachments stored server side in a file spool and sent as URL's, OR
* Attachments over a member-specified size sent as URL's.
I also wish, although this isn't a MIME issue and it's hard to achieve on
the server side, that there was a proper "reply wizard" available that would
allow a replying member to choose carefully between sending to the whole
list, versus sending privately to just one message author. While we were at
it, we could pre-empt tricks like attaching an entire Digest to the reply.
At least that stuff can be stripped at the server.
