On Mon, 1 Apr 2002, David Lawler Christiansen (NT) wrote:

> Are you trolling?  

Why are you asking me? You're the one who's top-posting, not I.

> Do you write proposals, resumes, term papers, etc in plaintext?  While
> some people certainly do so, chances are you don't.  You probably use
> TeX, PS, HTML or another markable format.  Well, email is a document
> too, and like more traditional documents, lots of people need/want to
> communicate in a manner that plaintext format simply doesn't provide.  

I certainly don't. OTOH I don't post them on the internet. Instead, I
print them out. Everyone can read printouts, only a selected few can read
the document format of the week.
Communication and papers are two different things. When I call someone on
the phone, I don't want to hear the hisses of a modem, I just ewant plain
speak. Likewise, when I read email, I expect plain text, not garbled
markup.
If you don't want to communicate within the limitations of email, don't
use email. At least not on the internet. On an intranet, you may do as you
wish, but not here. You have not a bloody idea about the receiver's
ability to read anything but the common format, namely plain text. Is that
so difficult to understand?

> So, are you arguing against marking up email in general, or just against
> the RFC2112/1872/2387 message-format in particular?  

I'm against being sent anything which I can't read anywhere I like to read
mail.

> On the other issue...
> 
> Do you REALLY think we're evil?  If so, I don't think you know what evil
> is.  Evil is slaughtering those who believe differently from you, or
> whose parentage differs from yours.  Evil is selling poison to
> schoolchildren to smoke, or flying an airplane full of people and fuel
> into a populated building.  Evil is blowing up elementary schools, or
> releasing nerve gas in a subway.  Let's keep things in perspective,
> shall we?  I hope you never come across real evil, even if it means you
> might have to revise your opinion of us.

Is that supposed to be an argument? Really? So as long as you don't stoop
that low, everything's all right? I'm sorry, but I like to believe that
civil, moral behaviour entails a bit more than refraining from the very
simplest acts of terror and destruction.
Really, what are going to do next, bring forth the Hitler argument?

Indeed, I think that you're (if you'd like to stand up as an M$ spokesman)
evil. You're polluting the internet. You, a single firm, behave as if
common norms didn't at all exist. No other supplier would come up with as
tasteless an idea as making HTML posting not only a capability, but the
*default behaviour* of your application. What makes you think that the
standards never apply to you?

[snip unnecessary 10 line disclaimer]

[snip Microsoft's own attributing standard]

[snip amateurish bottom-quoting]