[GreenKeys] [Mailman Admins] jpg attachments and html posts

[gil at baudot.net]

Hi George:

Thanks for getting back to me.  Are you the main guy now that Tim is
gone?

My list is greenkeys.  If you could check my settings, I would sure
appreciate it.

I agree with you that html posts don't really offer many advantages, and
we don't need fancy fonts or smiley faces.  But I do know that when I
use my web-based email program in html mode, it has a nice real-time
spell checker, whereas the plain-text mode spell checker is rather
clumsy.  Just a simple thing, but it affects every post of mine.  I
think there are other users who may have similar situations, and I know
we have had more than a few folks who have trouble setting their mailers
to plain-text mode.

Now, if html posts are allowed, and converted to plain text for the
list, I see nothing wrong with that.  However, links need to be allowed,
as that is pretty fundamental.  This would allow us to post in html mode
if desired, and would, I presume, just strip out formatting and embedded
pictures.  I think this would be workable, but greenkeys seems to be
currently set to totally strip out html, as an earlier post of mine
showed.  I don't see the config that is doing that.  I also cannot tell
why it is stripping jpg files.

So, in summary, for greenkeys, I'd like to:
- Allow html posts (for email program ease), but convert to plain text
for the list.
- Allow links to come through.
- Allow small attached jpg files (I thought perhaps 200K max).

thanks,

gil smith

greenkeys moderator
gil at baudot.net
www.baudot.net
Vaux Electronics:  480-354-5556



> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [Mailman Admins] jpg attachments and html posts
> From: George Fremin III <geoiii at qsl.net>
> Date: Wed, March 11, 2009 9:03 am
> To: gil at baudot.net
> Cc: qsl-net at mailman.qth.net
> 
> 
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 08:33:23AM -0700, gil at baudot.net wrote:
> > 
> > How do I allow members to attach pics to their emails?  I bumped the max
> > post size from 40K to 200K to allow small pics, and added jpg in the
> > "pass filename extension: box, but pics are still being stripped.
> 
> What list or lists are you running - I will need to look at how you
> have things setup.  You should be able to send images to the list.
> Depending on how you have things setup some other rule might be
> discarding images. I will be glad to take a look.
> 
> > Also, I thought that html posts were now allowed, but when I tried one
> > the body text was stripped out as well.
> 
> A few weeks ago I changed all of the list to convert HTML to plain text.
> 
> You can allow HTML on a list by list basis.
> 
> Last month I was looking over the settings for a number of the lists
> after getting some complaints and noticed that HTML was being allowed
> by every list I looked at - and this included a number of lists where
> the list owners never wanted HTML. Since all of the list settings were
> moved directly from the previous setup I can only assume that HTML was
> being allowed on all of these lists for some time.
> 
> I am sorry if this mass configuration change has caused some surprises
> but there is just no easy way for me to deal with almost 500 email
> list setups.
> 
> In general I personally do not like HTML email being sent to the email
> lists.  I think it causes more problems and trouble than it is worth
> and usually it is just so some person can have their signature be
> green or one word in the text to flash red. Beyond my own feelings
> though, there is a long standing policy at qsl.net about the lists
> being plain text.
> 
> http://mailman.qth.net/miniaup.html
> 
> Says:
> 
>   Do not send HTML, rich text, or stylized email, or messages in
>   "quoted-printable" format. Not all email programs of list members will
>   recognize such formats. Send messages in Plain Text.
> 
> 
> So, that is the reason the mass change was made.  Since we host a wide
> range of lists here at qsl.net I have decided that if individual list
> owners want to allow HTML they can change the setting back.  All you
> have to do is turn the content filtering off.  I still think that
> having content filtering on and converting the HTML to plain text is
> the best way to go for most list.  It is especially useful and good
> for any large list that has a general audience.  So those of you that
> have a list for the local radio club and want to have HTML emails I do
> not see an issue.  If your list has 200 or 500 or 1000 members I would
> strongly encourage you to not allow HTML to be posted to your lists.
> 
> I have quite a bit of experience running many very active 1500+
> member mailman lists over many years and so I think my advice is
> based on some amount of real world experience.
> 
> 
> --
> George Fremin III - K5TR
> geoiii at qsl.net