On Wed, 10 Sep 1997 demonsword@vasia.com wrote:

AS>One last tip would be to compress your attached file using a program like
AS>Winzip to cut down on the attached file size.

I think that if this is to be done, the file should be made a
self-extracting archive. You can't take the chance that
the person receive it doesn't <gasp!> have PKUNZIP.

Uhm.  And I assume you'll provide self-extracting versions for those of us
(like myself) who are on UNIX machines, not to mention anyone on a
Macintosh, or an Amiga, or whatever other non-Windows machines there are
out there?  Keep in mind that you'll need different self-extracting
binaries for different UNIX flavors (like SunOS, Linux i386, Linux Alpha,
Irix)... ^_^  I think the message with the 'compressed' versions would
become larger than the uncompressed one! ^_^;;
 
The problem with this idea is that you cannot guarantee what system the
receiver is on.  If I come across a fic encoded in a way I cannot access,
I do not go to the trouble of saving it out, copying it to some other
machine, etc.  I just ignore it.

Attachments encoded as text/plain MIME types are viewable within most mail
programs, so that's easy enough, but I've seen plenty of .txt attachments
as APPLICATION/OCTET-STREAM, which is a raw binary file.  These have to be
saved out using your mail program (a real pain if you use 'mail' or some
other non-MIME capable program, as you have to save the entire file out,
run it through a copy of mimetool, etc) and decoded before they can be
viewed.  If I see fics like that, I generally decide it isn't worth my
time to view 'em.

However, I think that compressing the fic is VERY practical,
saves on time, and also doubles as an archiving aid for
the receiver.

But you have to deal with the fact that if you encode your fic in any one
given format, you'd better make sure that everyone can DECODE it.  A
Windows person might be likely to .zip their files, us UNIX folks would
more like .gz them, an Amiga user would probably .lha their fic, a Mac
user might use Stuffit... you see the problem.

Anyway, to sum this meaty message up, I'd like to ask
again how many people take offense at receiving fics
via attachments. If there are TOO many, I guess I'll
have to live with it.

I, for one, will often ignore fics that are in attachments.  This list is
high-traffic enough that I usually judge a message on the first page I can
see... no, not a fair method, but otherwise the mail is unmanagable.  Even
those fics in attachments which I do read are harder to reply to...  you
have to save the fic out, edit your C&C into a separate file, read that
file into the editor, and send it back to the author.  I think you can
post fics as attachments, but a lot of folks (including Kun-chan, who
posted her opinion earlier, and myself) will probably not C&C 'em because
it's a hassle. 

----[Loki]-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jeremy Blackman / Anime fan/fanfic author, Game Designer/Engineer
loki@maison-otaku.net (personal mail) / Maison Otaku Productions founder
loki@thekeep.org      (mailing lists) / Fanfic author / anime
jeremy@lith.com       (work)          / Monolith Productions