[alicebot-aiethics] HTML mail

[Noel Bush]

The program we are now using for all ALICE community mailing lists, GNU
Mailman, does not properly display HTML mail in the web archive for a list.
Ironically enough, an HTML mail message is displayed in its full textual
glory (which is often quite ugly given the kind of HTML generated by mail
programs).  We don't (can't) prohibit the use of HTML mail, but please
remember this issue when you post, and consider setting your mail program to
use plain text when posting to the lists, unless your point is utterly
inexpressible without a special font and colors and so on.  This will
improve the usefulness of the archives as searchable resources that may
yield useful information for people using Web search engines to find
information about ALICE.

Also consider the banal but actual security issues associated with HTML
mail.

Attachments to mail messages also cannot be downloaded directly from the web
archive (they are displayed as encoded sections of the message).

However, you can download an mbox-format version of any of the mailing list
archives, and import this into your favorite mail program, which ought to be
able to render HTML messages ("virii" and all) readably and to give you
access to attachments.  This might be a good idea if you are new to a list
and want to catch up.