[pmmail-list] Re: HTML formatting in PMMail (Netiquette by some)

[Simon Bowring]

On Tue, 26 Nov 2002 22:46:22 -0700, Martin Moran wrote:

>While I think that makes  "me too" responses way to easy, is it really
>something to get your knickers in a knot over?  There are now scroll
>buttons on your mice, folks... 

Whilst I agree broadly with your sentiments, you're illustrating
part of the problem by making assumptions about other people's 
equipment, software and capabilties! For example an ever increasing 
number of emails (already counted in multi-millions) are being 
delivered to display-limited mobile phones over 9600bps links. 
Many people in Eastern europe and developing countires etc 
receive email over slow modem links, many people still only access 
computers (and their email) via text-mode terminals, often with 
little or no mark-up available, and certainly no mouse" etc etc! 

>Netiquette Nazis are a real PITA sometimes. 
Indeed - but there are some sound reasons behind netiquette,
and evey internet user should at least be made aware of the 
guidelines before they start using the internet - but this 
doesn't happen anymore!

If you are communicating with your mates, use whatever conventions
you like, but when you are "broadcasting" to (unknown) people with
unknown internet connections, software and capabilities, don't
assume their software works like yours, instead obey netiquette. 
This is only good manners!

When IBM shipped OS/2 2.x (with a complete set of internet 
stuff) their newsreader help included all the netiquette 
guidelines (and displayed them by default when you first ran
it up!) this shows a very responsible attitude IMHO. Most Windows 
users are completely unaware about netiquette and this is 
NOT their fault!).

Before 1997 or so, there were very relatively few windows users
on the internet, and those that wre there tended to know what they 
were doing like everyone else did. Netiquette was far far better 
observed. Since then, from the point of view of "older" members 
of the internet community, there's been the equivalent of an influx 
of illinformed, illmannered oiks trampling over well established 
best-practise and interoperability, so it's not entirely unexpected 
that they get irked sometimes!

Simon
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