On 25 Nov 2002, at 9:40, JHoffpa464@aol.com wrote:

> why are they 
> 1. DANGEROUS and

The easiest way to transmit/receive email viruses,  especially if you 
use a microsoft mail client ie: outlook or outlook express.

> 2. IDIOTIC.

See above and also chews up bandwidth for users who have to pay 
for data transfer charges and connect time.  Which is most of the 
world .

They also fill up the digest with "computer speak" text.  So do 
attachments.

So as a courtesy to all list members, set your mail to the server to 
plain text, and if you reply to a message with any fancy fonts or 
coloured text make sure your reply is set to plain text as some mail 
clients always reply in the format of the received message.

Another thing to do is check with your IT staff and ask them to not 
send out of office replies to the internet..

Bob
An IT guy