[Pan-users] Re: pan on Win 7 "attachment not shown" bug

[Duncan]

Steve Davies posted on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:06:31 +0100 as excerpted:

> <side-rant>
> This is not helpful, but I found using Win 7 such a painful experience
> that I have not done so since. I still use Windows XP as it is faster,
> has better driver support and does not cost me £90 for an upgrade! Sadly
> I'll have to cave in eventually :( </side-rant>

<reply to the side-rant, OK, you surely knew something of the sort was 
coming!>

Meh.  MS pushed me off that costly upgrade wheel some time ago, and I 
landed on Linux.  That's perhaps the best thing I hold MS at least in part 
responsible for. =:^)

Also, I'm known on the Cox (the local cableco ISP) groups for debunking 
the "I have no choice but Cox" claims, as well.  As a serial (3-time) 
abuse survivor, one of the things I had to learn in ordered to get out of 
that cycle was that there's **ALWAYS** a choice.  As one who suffered it, 
I know from experience that victim syndrome is horrible in how it distorts 
reality -- the reason victims seem to be oblivious to opportunities to 
leave their captors, or otherwise get out of the abuse situation (which 
can obviously be other than kidnapping) with<side-rant>
This is not helpful, but I found using Win 7 such a painful experience
that I have not done so since. I still use Windows XP as it is faster,
has better driver support and does not cost me £90 for an upgrade!
Sadly I'll have to cave in eventually :(
</side-rant>

What does "attachment not shown" mean when it happens elsewhere?
When/where does the message appear?

Perhaps this is something to do with different paths in the new O/S,
although if it also happens on some linux installs, this is probably
GTK related rather than Windows related, so I am copying this message
to the mailing list in case someone has seen it before.
out developing a case of "The Burning Bed" syndrome, aka blow-up-the-world-
and-so-what-if-it-takes-me-with-it, at-least-I'm-free!

As I said, there's /always/ choices.  Coming out of that victim mentality, 
I had to teach myself to more or less constantly actively search out, 
evaluate and rank various choices, based on personal priority factors 
which were themselves dynamically reevaluated.  For someone coming out of 
victim syndrome, learning such skills is vital to breaking the vicious 
cycle and learning how to react normally instead of instinctively 
retreating into victim mode once again.

So you should well appreciate that any time I see a post hinting "no 
choice", I am impelled to reply to it, debunking the myth for what it is, 
while pointing out the reality, that there's LOTS of choice, and that any 
seeming lack of choice is due to not appreciating the real breadth of 
choices out there.  Of course, after proper evaluation, it may indeed be 
that the initial claimed "only choice" remains far and away the /best/ 
choice, but by recognizing and evaluating the other choices out there, 
that it /is/ the best choice and by how far is now appreciated, and a 
person is now empowered to act in according priority to maintain it, all 
the while knowing that there ARE other choices, such that having the one 
best choice eliminated wouldn't be "the end of the world" after all!

For example, on the Cox Internet question, one only has to reflect on what 
one might do if Cox went insolvent, or simply pulled out of the area.  
Even in areas where it's the only high speed Internet provider, there's 
still other choices available, including dialup if it comes to that, 
satellite links, expensive and high latency as they are, even going /no/ 
Internet for a few months or years if one had to (I've a bunch of books 
sitting on my shelf to read... and only stopped collecting more because 
what I had wasn't getting read anyway...).  If one has the money, it may 
be possible to get a T1 line or some such, as well.  That's only 1.5 Mbit/
sec and costs are typically a few hundred a month, but it's an option 
that's out there.  Additionally, one has the choice of moving to another 
location, one with more Internet choices.

Now as I said, the one choice, in this case, the single (consumer priced) 
high speed Internet provider, may indeed be the best one out there, but 
this will vary by individual situation.  An unattached individual without 
family or highly valued friends in the area, and who's renting so is 
without a house they'd have to sell, will likely rate the relative costs 
of moving far lower than someone who has all those, plus a reliable and 
enjoyable job, where he is.  The unattached person could well rate the 
benefits of available high speed Internet sufficient to move, while the 
attached person will have multiple much higher priority factors saying 
stay right where he is.

But even for the person who decides he has all sorts of higher priority 
reasons not to move, and to accept the best ISP he can get for his money 
where he is, there's a HUGE benefit in exploring the possibilities, and 
actually /recognizing/ how much more value he puts in family, friends, a 
good job, etc.  If that's indeed how he prioritizes things, he'll quickly 
recognize how low on the relative scale the importance that formerly 
seemingly all important Internet connection actually is.  With such an 
appreciation for how he actually /does/ rank things of importance in his 
live, he's likely to change his focus to stuff he actually /does/ consider 
important, and be FAR FAR happier for it.

Basically, a victim passively /lets/ things happen to him, "oh, I have no 
choice", while an overcomer actively EXPLORES his choices, prioritizes 
them, and invests time and energy into his priorities.  The overcomer will 
recognize an item low on his priority list and not worry much about it, 
putting minimal time and energy into it, while the victim will very likely 
NOT recognized the importance or lack thereof, will prioritize the wrong 
things or more likely simply /let/ things happen, and then blame fate.

So while I don't personally agree with your Windows choices, that's not a 
decision that's mine to make.  If it's something you prioritize, recognize 
that and go for it.  If you find you prioritize other things far higher 
and it's simply in the noise zone, recognize that and switch or maintain 
as the most convenient and lowest resistance path to continuing to have 
time for what you DO value.  Or if you discover, as I did, that you value 
your freedom more than the conveniences of the proprietary GUI outside of 
your own control, well, make changes asserting that.

But for cryin' out loud, don't be a victim, an "I'll have to cave in 
eventually" surrendering victim!  Actively explore your options, rank them 
based on your own continuously reevaluated priorities, and actively assert 
control over your own destiny, whatever you choose it to be, even if 
that's Windows 7, and 8, and...  Break out of the unhealthy victim cycle, 
of passively accepting what fate brings you, and you'll be the happier for 
it, as will those around you!  Believe me, I KNOW of which I speak!

</side-rant reply>

> What does "attachment not shown" mean when it happens elsewhere?
> When/where does the message appear?
> 
> Perhaps this is something to do with different paths in the new O/S,
> although if it also happens on some linux installs, this is probably GTK
> related rather than Windows related, so I am copying this message to the
> mailing list in case someone has seen it before.

Walt gave a technical reply.  I'll give a pragmatic one based on 
experience.

Basically, pan only shows two types of attachments, still-images and 
text.  If it sees an attachment it doesn't recognize as one of those, it 
simply punts, not showing the attachment, but telling you (especially if 
the message is small enough you might not notice it) so you can elect to 
save it if desired.

In real life, most of the "attachment not shown"s I come across are gpg/
pgp type message signatures.  Pan doesn't offer a built-in sig 
verification mechanism, and these are pretty small, so it notes they are 
there, in case you're interested in them enough to save them and do 
whatever with them (in this case, verify the signed message).

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman