OT - signing emails (was:Re: [PLUG] Re: PLUG - The Happy Fun List!)

["Michael Leone" <turgon@mike-leone.com>]

Arthur S. Alexion said:
> On Friday 04 October 2002 10:49 am, Michael Leone wrote:
>> Weeellll ... to a mailing list, probably. Ya never know if it's some
>> virus/worm generated thing, and you might get infected somehow (less
>> of an option with us *nix types, but still ...); there's always that
>> wasted bandwidth issue; and some folks (not usually in the U.S.,
>> however) pay by the connection minute, so forcing them to download an
>> attachment that they may not want, just to read a post on a mailing
>> list, is somewhat rude.
>>
>>
>> --
>> PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF
>> Member, LEAF Project <http://leaf.sourceforge.net>    AIM: MikeLeone
>> Public Key - <http://www.mike-leone.com/~turgon/turgon-public-key.asc>
>> Registered Linux user# 201348
>
> I am certainly among those who prefer not to receive HTML mail for the
> reasons mentioned, and also because so much of it is so tacky.  (Just
> because you can, doesn't mean you should.  Putting the Gimp or
> Photoshop on your computer doesn't make you and artist.)
>
> But, for some of the same reasons, I think PGP/GPG signatures are
> overused.  Yeah, I know the arguments for authentication, but is
> authentication necessary for most list mail?  Does it really matter who
> really wrote it?

It might, depending on what is being said, and who is claiming to say it.
Obviously, this would matter more if the email in topic was important -
Linus saying that he and BillG are now buds, and Linus is now gonna code
the kernel in C#, for instance. I for one would want a way to be able to
authenticate the validity of THAT poster! :-)

Usually not, however.

> Monitoring this list for a while, I have come to
> associate names with smart or stupid, nice or nasty, but all most of us
> really care about are the ideas themselves, not where they came from.
>
> Of course, signatures are indispensabe for conducting business, but
> list mail?

Habit. Sign everything by default, then you won't have to worry about
inadvertently *not* signing something that you should. Same reason many
people lock their cars, even when in the garage - habit of locking the car
whenever you get out of it and leave it, no matter where the car is
parked.

Sometimes you can't sign - I'm posting this from my webmailer, and it
doesn't support signing. So I don't worry unduly about it. At home, from
Evolution or mutt, I have it sign by default.

-- 
PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF
Member, LEAF Project <http://leaf.sourceforge.net>    AIM: MikeLeone
Public Key - <http://www.mike-leone.com/~turgon/turgon-public-key.asc>
Registered Linux user# 201348


Random Thought:
--------------
Moebius always does it on the same side.


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