Dear all
I should respond briefly to Chris Mawer's points in his
recent message.
My view is that the issue is really the size of the attachment and
the fact that it was a job ad is a relatively minor point. So,
regarding attachments -
1. We need to bear in mind that there are still mail systems around
that don't handle attachments at all and so some users will never
see information that is put into an attached file.
2. Chris's figures show very clearly the amount of 'padding' that is
inherent in the documents produced by modern packages. Anyone who
absolutely has to attach a file to a mail message that will be
duplicated, in the case of geo-tectonics, 844 times, has a duty to
ensure that it is as small as possible and Chris shows how, in the
case of a word processed document, that can be done.
3. The way to give people access to documents that preserve all their
formatting and layout is by giving people a URL to pick them off a
web site - that is what the web does well and it' s something that
email was never designed to do efficiently.
So, in all of those points, I'm right behind Chris and I must
emphasise that they apply to all list postings, not just job ads. The
only point that I don't agree with is that the way forward for job
ads is to segregate them on to a separate list. Interest in job ads
is not confined to those seeking a post, in Universities we need to
keep informed about what's available for our graduates. I agree that
multiple postings are a pain but if messages are short and
informative I think that most of us are prepared to live with them.
If this isn't the way most list members feel then let me know.
The second point that I would like to receive some feedback about is
concerned with the ways in which we can avoid our list from being
used to distribute unsolicited commercial email, Spam. Mailbase,
centrally, does a pretty good job of filtering out the obvious ones.
For example, a message with 'make money' in the subject line will not
make it on to any mailbase list without first being trapped and
vetted. However, there are further steps which I can take as list
owner. The obvious one is to stop non-members from being able to
post to the list and geo-tectonics has always had that option set.
Having to go through the joining process is often enough to deter a
spammer.
There is a second step that I could take which would help prevent a
spammer from finding out your email address through geo-tectonics and
then using it to send you junk mail directly. They could do this at
the moment because the membership list appears as part of the
geo-tectonics web site
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/geo-tectonics/
is the home page with a link to the membership list.
The advantage to this, of course, is that members can easily find out
who else is on the list. I can turn this option off if you feel that
you would like a little more privacy. Please let me know your views.
Finally, I was at the TSG annual meeting in Manchester earlier this
month and it was great to put some faces to people who previously
had just been email addresses. But even more gratifying were the
number of people who told me how valuable they found geo-tectonics.
It's good to know we're appreciated!
Cheers
John
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John Whalley
Lecturer in Structural Geology and Computer Applications in Geology
List owner - geo-tectonics
Tel +44 23 9284 2247 Fax +44 23 9284 2244
School of Earth, Environmental and Physical Science
University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, PO1 3QL, UK Email- [log in to unmask]
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