what is wrong with d.clear()?

[Steve Hayes]

On Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:33:53 +1100, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:

>Dave Angel wrote:
>
>> Or even better:  Don't use html email for forum messages.  It frequently
>> messes up the colors, the font, the formatting (like indentation), or
>> even prevents some people from even seeing and/or replying to the
>> message.  Put the email program in text mode, and just send what you
>> want people to see.
>
>
>I agree, but alas the horse has bolted and the idiots have taken over.
>
>We cannot stop the great mass of people sending HTML mail, but there is no
>reason why we have to *read* HTML email. Even today, most mail clients will
>send a plain text part that contains the same content as the HTML part, and
>any decent mail client can be set to prefer the plain text part in
>preference to rendering the HTML.
>
>For those few cases where there is no plain text part[1], the better mail
>clients (such as mutt) will include an option to dump the raw HTML to plain
>text, minus all the tags.
>
>Last but not least, for the *vanishingly small* number of cases that has no
>plain text part, and the formatting of the text dump is unreadable, or
>where the formatting of the HTML is actually essential to understanding the
>post, then you have a choice of pressing Delete on the message or rendering
>the HTML. But rendering HTML should never be the default.

I had a message, discussed in another NG, inviting me to look at someone's
family tree on the web. It had no plain text version, and when I clicked on
the relevant link, it crashed my mail reader. 

When I right-clicked on the link and tried to copy the URL to paste ibnto the
address line of my web browser, it led to a "file not found" page. 

The HTML was enormously complex, and all they were supposed to be sending was
a simple link. 

>[1] Or worse, one of those shitty messages that include a plain text part
>that says "Your mail program cannot read this email. Please upgrade to a
>better mail program."

I usually reply to those saying "So why did you send it to me?" 

I suspect that in most cases the senders do not know that that is what their
mail program is sending, and do it to let them know that their mesdsage could
not be read. 


-- 
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk