Why are people singing there postings on this mailling list ?

[Nicolas Blais]

On Saturday 15 April 2006 10:23, 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.
>
> Cheers
> Benjamin

+1, well said.

Nicolas.
-- 
FreeBSD 7.0-CURRENT #1: Sat Apr  8 21:33:25 EDT 2006     
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