John Denker has made some good suggestions about e-mail software and how you might want to set it. I have a question along those lines.
One option for many of us is to choose "rich text" format as opposed to "plain text." I realize that plain text is "safer" in the sense it is less likely to cause problems for people who don't use the same system I use.
On the other hand, rich text is more robust and allows some formatting such a bold, italics, centering. On my campus, since we all use the same system, we typically use rich text. But I often switch to plain text for messages leaving campus. It's a pain to keep switching back and forth.
So the question is, if I leave Outlook in rich text mode, does that cause problems for some of you? If your system does not support or detect the rich text mode, supposedly all that happens is you see plain text and any centering or bold or italics, etc. simply show as plain text. Is that the extent of it, or does someone sending messages in rich text actually cause some people to get garbled messages?
Does anybody even get the rich text, or does the list server convert it to plain text before sending it out? I am sending this message in rich text, and these words are bold.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817