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Attachments



A posting to PHYS-L earlier today included two Photoshop files. A reminder
to the list: Please do not attach files to messages sent to this or any
other listserver. To quote from a recent e-mail message on the subject from
Richard Hake:

Phys-L: Avoid Junk Postings:
.............AVOID FILE ATTACHMENTS. (OUR CAPS) Don't post binary
files to PHYS-L; they are inappropriately long and burdensome to
readers and are A PRIME VECTOR FOR COMPUTER VIRUSES. (OUR CAPS)
PHYS-L has no current acceptable format for posting pictures and
images. The preferred solution is to create an appropriate web page
somewhere, then post its URL on PHYS-L for web viewing and list
comment............ when posting turn off features like v-cards and
HTML-mail (the default format in Netscape and Internet Explorer
browser-email) that automatically create attachments"

According to Adam C. Engst in "Mailing List Manners 102"
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1141>:

"AVOID FILE ATTACHMENTS .......In general, unless a list actively
encourages the use of attachments to messages, you shouldn't send
them. Most mailing lists consist of people using a variety of email
programs under different operating systems. That's even true for a
list devoted to a Macintosh-only program like HyperCard, for
instance, since people often read email at work, where they may use a
Unix machine or Windows box instead of the Mac they use at home.
Then there are Web-based email clients, which may not be able to deal
with attachments at all. Thus, IT'S LIKELY THAT ANY ATTACHMENT WON'T
BE READABLE BY A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE ON THE LIST. (OUR
CAPS) If you're thinking about attaching a file that contains
primarily text, instead copy the file's content into the body of the
message. Attachments are also a concern because many people aren't
careful about the size of attached files. Attaching a 1 MB file to a
message may be as easy as attaching a 10K file, but that 1 MB file
may cause significant problems for the mailing list program itself
(consider the disk space implications if the program created a
separate file for each recipient of a 600 person list - 600MB of
data) and for individual recipients on the end of slow connections.
Another problem with attachments is that many people send them
without realizing that they've done so. Now that many email programs
support inline graphics, people copy images into their messages
without realizing that those images are in fact sent as
attachments..........."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roger A. Freedman
Department of Physics and College of Creative Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

Mailing address:
Department of Physics
UCSB
Santa Barbara CA 93106-9530

E-mail: airboy@physics.ucsb.edu
WWW: http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~airboy/
Voice: (805) 893-2345
FAX: (805) 893-3307

For the latest astronomy news, visit http://www.whfreeman.com/universe/
and click on "The Week in Astronomy"