[Tools-discuss] Re: Be careful when sending images to the list

[Carsten Bormann <[e-mail]>]

On 27. Jul 2024, at 03:06, Eric Rescorla <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> I don't know, but I suspect the number is fairly small and that the occasional large image represents a quite small fraction of their bandwidth. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

After a long break in connectivity, I sometimes find myself in places with limited and/or expensive connectivity.
This is exactly the time when I need to download tons of mail (*).
So I wouldn’t entirely dismiss the observation that the size of a batch of mail can matter.

With many of its members having been around in the nascent stages of the Internet, this community is generally quite frugal in its message sizes, and I believe it is worth to maintain some of that culture.
I read Robert’s missive as a reminder on how to do that, in particular not to mindlessly send images again in replies.

However, communicating in an effective way (**) trumps any other consideration, so if an image helps, don’t hesitate, go for it.
(Maybe not the 10 MB form of that image.)

Grüße, Carsten

(*) Yes, downloading attachments can often be switched off in mail clients, but this configuration can be obscure and one would do this in an emergency only.

(**) and having the communication archived *with* the images that enable it