madgardener wrote:
And just when does posting a JPG of a gardening wonder constitute
being frowned upon?

The following things can happen when a binary is posted in a non-binary
group:

1. Some servers won't even accept the message.

2. People on dial-up, especially those that pay by the minute, may
find themselves paying for crap they didn't want in the first place.

3. Most servers allocate a certain amount of space for each group
based on whether the group is a discussion or binary group. Essentially
everytime someone posts a text message in a text group, an old message
is deleted. When someone posts a binary, a couple hundred old messages
may end up deleted. Not a big deal if there was three or four months
worth of messages there, but a big deal if the server in question only
had about a week's worth of messages. One big picture could delete a lot
of messages that people didn't get a chance to read yet.

Essentially, posting a binary in a discussion group is an extremely
selfish thing to do. Perhaps the most selfish thing someone can do on
Usenet. It's on par with draining the community well to water your
garden, even though it means others may go dry.

But if you're so sure that you're more important that the whole
community, go right ahead and show us how selfish you can be.

Posting in html is better than posting a binary, but it's still pretty
selfish. Not everyone uses an html newsreader, and some who do turn off
html to lessen the risk of getting a virus or acquiring a trojan.
Posting in html says that you think what you have to say is more
important than practicing safe computing practices.

Why do you need a fancy font, anyway? Does a fancy font make the message
better? Does it mean that the words are not enough?

But again, if you feel you're more important than the rest of us, go
right ahead.

You must be fun to follow at the buffet table.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Your Guide to the Care and Feeding of a Suburban Lawn:
http://www.holzemville.com/community...are/index.html