Re: Can anybody tell me how to send HTML-format mail in gnus

[Xah]

On Aug 10, 2:52 am, Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demun...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:
> Xah<xah...@gmail.com> writes:
> > On Aug 8, 3:15 pm, Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demun...@yahoo.co.uk>
> > wrote:
> >>Xah<xah...@gmail.com> writes:
> >> > O, about your F15 vs bicycle analogy.
>
> >> I give up. You're painfully dense.
>
> > it's no use keep saying others are dense.
>
> > You have to give reasons. You gave none.
>
> > I gave reasons on how your F15 analogy is incorrect.
>
> You're a fucking idiot as well as a troll.
>
> *Plonk*

Plonk not the solution. I've wrote about it about 8 years ago. Please
see:

Killfile Considered Harmful
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/kill_file_harmful.html

plain text version follows:

---------------------------------------

Killfile Considered Harmful

Xah Lee, 2000-02-26

In newsgroups, killfile is a playful word meaning that the poster has
placed someone in a blacklist of authors, where their postings will be
automatically hidden from view in their newsreader. Such functionality
of newsreaders originated in unix. In the early 90s or before, it used
to be referred to as “sending someone into /dev/null”, because “/dev/
null” can be used as a way for deleting email program outputs.

The killfile behavior, is simply put: “sweep-under-the-rug”, “bury-
head-in-sand” kind of behavior. Imagine that in a gathering where if
everyone totally ignores other's voices except their own kind, then
what cacophony would result? Similarly, if we ignore the problem of
crime by simply using larger locks for our own doors, what consequence
would result?

We are all human beings. Our surroundings are our organs and affects
us dearly. In newsgroups, inevitably there will be certain individuals
with foul breath at times. Killfile mechanism is a very good feature
to battle such annoyances. This is not a reason for falling for the
convenience of blocking your ears from dissenting voices or the
nonconformists.

The worst thing i hate about it, is the broadcasting of someone being
killfiled. Oftentimes the sole content of a message is “You've been
killfiled”. WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO TO THE COMMUNITY BY SUCH
ANNOUNCEMENT? Is it a warning system for fellow readers to prepare to
follow suit? Or is it a stupid self-righteous act? In the course of a
unpleasant encountering, the killfilers feel the other party being
unworthy of further response but they don't want to be seen as
chickening out so they had to announce it as if saying: “Hello world:
you don't see a returning 'fuck you' from me because _I_ am _smarter_
and took a step ahead of my antagonist and covered my ears, not
because he is correct or anything like that.”. Pride is a human
nature, but unqualified conceit is despicable.

A second motivation for announcing killfile is more explicitly
juvenile. Killfile has several variant names: “You've been
killfiled.”, “plonk” (sound of falling object), “I've send you to /dev/
null” (unixism), and creativity does not seems to cease there, e.g. in
comp.lang.lisp: (plonk 'xah) or signatures that reads “in /dev/null,
they can't hear you scream.”

The reason of these playful variations is precisely literary folly.
The utterer delights in its use since most are wanting of genuine
literary artistry. This adds to the fashion of killfile and its
broadcasting.

Killfile behavior and broadcasting have another curious trait: No
burden of commitment. One cannot really tell if the person really did
the killfile. The decision to make a killfile cry in public does not
carry any weight of responsibility as compared to making a claim,
stating a “fact”, or expressing a opinion. It is simply a variation of
“fuck you”. This too, contributed to its uncontrolled popularity.

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄