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Re: I agree.



The time will come when formatting will be a standard part of email. I
believe that most of us on the list already have no problem with
receiving html mail and (accepting concerns about viruses and bandwidth)
attachments and that most of the rest *could* upgrade without much time
or effort. However, does that mean they *should*?

The very fact that my emphasis above would work much better as html
<b>should</b> might seem a good argument. However, people make a
variety of choices for different reasons. For example, I only have a
basic cable subscription for my tv (about a dozen channels). Someone
who loves tv might object "but surely you could get so much more with
one phone call and a few dollars a month"... this would be true but I
simply don't care - any show offered on a channel outside my chosen set
will simply not be watched in my house with no regrets. My reasons for
my choice go beyond what anybody trying to sell me extra channels has
yet been able to overcome.

The curious thing to me about this comparison is that none of my friends
are trying to get me to buy more channels - only the companies selling
the services. With internet technology we have the curious effect that
the salespeople are the users of the new technology. Making it
difficult for a program to send anything but html mail is a sales ploy.
Accepting this rather than calling it a deficiency in the program is
buying into being a part of the company's sales stragegy. If you have
decent up-to-date email software which you know how to use - you can
tell it that specific users (such as phys-l) do not wish to receive html
mail.

Email has been a very useful means of communication for me for many
years - just as plain text. While I make use of the new features with
those that I can, I make no judgement calls on the others. Eudora,
Microsoft and others can try to sell them on new features - I refuse to
do that job for them. Any intelligent and informed people can make
their own choices without having to answer to me about their reasons.
Whether its download time, the generation of their software etc is not
my business.

Speaking for myself on the two basic issues: 1) the day phys-l starts
accepting attachments will probably be the day I unsubscribe
2) I have no problem with html email and find it to be beneficial in
many cases. However, for the sake of those who for whatever reason do
not have it available, I will refrain from using it. Those who use html
mail should do so realizing that they are not addressing the whole of
phys-l.

Widespread use of html mail on phys-l would serve the purpose of purging
the ranks. Of those who can't read it a few would upgrade and most
would leave. If this is what you want, go ahead and send html mail.