Why are people singing there postings on this mailling list ?

[dgmm]

On Saturday 15 April 2006 15:23, Benjamin Lutz wrote:
> On Saturday 15 April 2006 15:23, Kees Plonsz wrote:
> > Is is so important to know that the question or answer came from
> > that person ? I don't think so.
> > Even if it were so, for me it is too much trouble to import every key
> > into my key-database from a key-server.
>
> I sign emails for the same reason I sign my snail-mail letters with a pen.
> I like providing authenticity. Whether the recipient actually checks the
> signatures is not that important, important is that if the need or desire
> arises, he can.
>
> I don't import every key I come across either, usually only those keys for
> which I get signatures on a regular basis.
>
> > On the other hand, those who aren't able to read singed messages
> > are confronted with a lot of carbage tekst wich makes the posting
> > harder to read.
>
> Most people use PGP/Mime these days. If your mail client does not support
> PGP, the signature will be surpressed or maybe shown as attachment. Either
> way, that doesn't make the mail content harder to read. And if your Mail
> client doesn't support Mime yet, well, that's your choice, and seeing the
> signature plaintext is far from the worst inconvience you'll have to put up
> with in that case.
>
> > We don't send postings in .html for that same reason.
>
> That's different. Html text means there's no readable content at all for
> non-HTML mail readers. And these are quite common.
>
> I sign my emails for two other reasons. First, I'm advocating adoption of
> PGP by everyone. I wish to sensitize people for the facts that standard
> emails are neither private nor authenticated, and that you can achieve
> these very important things with PGP. Frankly, I find it staggering how
> many people send around confidential information in emails over the public
> internet, without thinking of the consequences.
>
> The second reason is very personal. It takes some effort on my part to sign
> email. I am not using any key agent, which means I enter my keyphrase every
> time I send an email. This makes the process of sending an email more
> conscious for me: I think twice whether I really want to send it. Sometimes
> times I've stopped myself from sending an email I would later regret (a
> flame, or an angry answer, something like that) at the signing stage. It
> means that sending an email is not as much of a fire-and-forget thing for
> me. I like that.

You raise some good points there.  I've not looked at the above at all for my 
own use yet.  Do you recommend some reading on what it is, how-tos etc which 
are a little less "dry" than man pages? 

-- 
Dave