"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:uqGTa.130542$N7.19167@sccrnsc03

Just curious: Why would someone turn HTML interpretation off? What
purpose does this serve?

The issue is that spammers often use HTML-formatted email. This allows them
to jazz up the email with catchy fonts and graphics. "Catchy" is an
interesting term to use here because it's possible for the spammer's system
to track which email gets read by tracing the request for a particular
graphic. This indicates a couple of things: a) the email has been read and
b) the email address is valid. Both of these things are good for the
spammer and will encourage him to send even more spam or to sell your email
address - now proven to be valid - to other spammers.

Disabling HTML in your email client prevents this from happening since none
of the HTML tags - like IMG - are interpreted. This has little effect on
legitimate email since the email reader (in my case OE) will probably
indicate the HTML content as an attachment that can be saved allowing you to
view it safely using a text reader - or even a browser, if you like life on
the edge. Also, most legitimate email that is formatted as HTML (like AOL
mail) will have a section of the email dedicated to text-only recipients.
This section is void of any HTML tags to begin with and should be the
section shown by your email reader when HTML is disabled.

Anything to help give the finger to spammers...

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/tknoFlyer
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