[thelist] Email confirmation - html or text?

michael ensor edc at wnc.quik.co.nz
Wed Nov 10 14:51:10 CST 2004


I have unsubscribed from some lists that do not give the option of plain
text emails, and whilst I may not be typical it is generally considered good
practice to offer the option.

Another option to consider is simply sending a plain text email with a link
to your "update" page.

What about an XML feed instead?

Also remember:

1. Many corporate firewalls do not allow html email so if they are part of
your audience plain text must be an option.

2. Many ISP's are now using spam filters and usually html email is a flag
for those filters, so that any html email will need to be worded
carefully to avoid scoring too high.

Here is an extract from my ISP's filter from a mail I 'saved' from the kill
list
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
X-Virus-Scanned:
X-Barracuda-Spam-Score: 3.09
X-Barracuda-Spam-Status: Yes, SCORE=3.09 using per-user scores of
TAG_LEVEL=2.0 QUARANTINE_LEVEL=5.0 KILL_LEVEL=5.0 tests=FORGED_OUTLOOK_HTML,
FORGED_RCVD_HELO, HTML_20_30, HTML_FONT_BIG, HTML_MESSAGE, MIME_HTML_ONLY,
MSGID_OUTLOOK_INVALID, MSGID_SPAM_ZEROES, SOME_BREAKTHROUGH, TO_MALFORMED
X-Barracuda-Spam-Report: Code version 2.64, rules version 2.1.504
 Rule breakdown below pts        rule name                      description
 ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------
 0.64 TO_MALFORMED           To: has a malformed address
 0.40 MSGID_SPAM_ZEROES      Spam tool Message-Id: (12-zeroes variant)
 0.58 SOME_BREAKTHROUGH      BODY: Describes some sort of breakthrough
 0.00 HTML_MESSAGE           BODY: HTML included in message
 0.14 HTML_FONT_BIG          BODY: HTML has a big font
 0.23 HTML_20_30             BODY: Message is 20% to 30% HTML
 0.18 MIME_HTML_ONLY         BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts
 0.00 FORGED_RCVD_HELO       Received: contains a forged HELO
 0.92 MSGID_OUTLOOK_INVALID  Message-Id is fake (in Outlook Express format)
 0.00 FORGED_OUTLOOK_HTML    Outlook can't send HTML message only
X-Priority: 5 (Lowest)
X-MSMail-Priority: Low
Importance: Low
--------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Pack"
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 4:07 AM
Subject: [thelist] Email confirmation - html or text?


: Hi all,
:
: I am wanting to collect some strategies and opinions for sending client
: confirmation emails, specifically techniques to distinguish if the
: client supports/wants to receive the confirmation in HTML. Is it better
: just to stick with text or offer both options and what are some
: solutions for offering both? Information on email client software
: support and functionality would help to. (i.e. this one does this when
: you send html, while this one does this)
:
: Any advice or resource is greatly appreciated.
:
: MP
: --
:
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