CHRISTINE W. MAACK wrote:

>Jim Flynn wrote: > those who send attached files please consider
>not doing so ..>
>
>Jim, on another list I subscribe to this problem has been discussed at length.
>Apparently the people who are "sending" attachments may not even be aware
>of it
>and may not be able to avoid it when using their Reply feature.

Maybe, but in most mailers you can set an option to prevent attachments
(and the other horrible problem of stray html formatting codes that make
text unreadable to the majority). I think the sender has the
responsibility to be kind to the group, even if it means using better
software; there's plenty of stuff to chose from these days, on all
platforms.

Better in some respects, many list servers now have an option set by the
list owner to prevent the sending of attachments at all. If someone tries
(even accidentally) to include an attachment, the mail is returned to them
with a description of the problem. This lets them know that they do have a
problem, and the responsibility to fix it. Does the Tweeter listserv have
this option, and could it be set accordingly?

Attachments used to be simply an annoyance, but now that Megasloth Word
propagates viruses via documents, it's all too easy these days to spread
them on e-mail lists to the unsuspecting. The correct response for anyone
_receiving_ an attachment is definately to throw it away unread. Note,
though, that straight text _cannot_ spread viruses, only Word 6 formatted
documents (so far). So the Goodtimes 'virus' is still a hoax :-).


Allyn Weaks
allyn at cornetto.chem.washington.edu aka allyn at u.washington.edu
Pacific Northwest Native Wildlife Gardening:
http://chemwww.chem.washington.edu/natives/