No HTML in messages!

[jon.bosak@sun.com]

Hello UBL TC,

I think I've mentioned this before, but this time I'd really like
everyone to pay attention.

Spam filters use increasingly complex and apparently somewhat
fragile algorithms in judging which messages to block.  Some of
them use the simple presence of HTML as a spam indicator (which is
not surprising; so do I).  I now know of two recent cases in which
mail from the UBL TC list has been blocked by spam filters.  In
one of those cases, I know for a fact that the message was blocked
due to the occurrence of HTML markup, and in the other case I
strongly suspect the presence of HTML to have been the cause.  The
second case was particularly unfortunate because a person who
needed to review one of our documents was unaware that it had been
posted until it was too late to comment.

A lot of people aren't even aware that their mail client is
creating an HTML version of their message (which also
substantially increases its size, but that's a separate problem).
Please take a minute to find the HTML setting in your client
interface and TURN IT OFF.  Whatever benefits you think you're
getting from being able to express yourself in purple 12 point
Souvenir Bold Italic, it's not worth the increasing risk that your
message is not being delivered.  This is particularly important in
an effort such as ours where silence is taken as consent.

Jon