Date: 7/11/25 1:27 am From: Jane Hadley via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] question (Diann MacRae via Tweeters)
Dear Tweetsters: For a long time, I have been unable to see the content in Diann MacRae's Tweeters messages -- unless I click on the URL link at the bottom of the message. I get Tweeters via the Digest, so this URL may be available only for those who receive Tweeters via the Digest or at the UW's Tweeters archives.
When I click on that URL at the bottom of the message
I am taken to a web page that displays her message, but the message is encased in html markup, that is, commands enclosed in angle brackets saying how the message should be displayed. (It's not just Diann's messages. There are a few other Tweeter contributors whose messages have the same issue.) I suspect the problem is the email client that Diann (and others who are have the same issue) are using. I think there is probably nothing Diann can do other than to use a different device or program to send the messages. The Tweeters listserv software is old and cannot handle all formats. Some Tweeters subscribers choose to get individual Tweeters messages forwarded on to them rather than having a digest that packages up all of a day's messages once a day and sends them out in a single email. I get the digest, so I cannot say how Diann's messages are displayed in the individual emails that are forwarded. I wouldn't be surprised if those messages came through just fine.
I just now checked The Birding Lists Digest site that shows Tweeters messages on a web page ( http://digest.sialia.com/?rm=one_list;id=141 ) and I find that the content of Diann's message is entirely missing. And the URL at the bottom simply links to the Tweeters information page, not to the content of the message.
So the solution to this issue depends on how you get your Tweeters messages.
If you get them via the Digest, click on the URL at the bottom of the message.
If you get individually forwarded emails, I am guessing you don't have a problem, unless you have an email program that is limited in formats it can handle (unlikely in this day and age). But I could be wrong about this, don't know.
Finally, if you read your Tweeters messages via the Birders List Digest, then I think you're out of luck there. You will not be able to read the message. But you can go to the UW Tweeters archives and find the message to get the URL at the bottom of the message and read the content (encased in html markup). Here is the link for that: https://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/
Regarding the sending side of this question, I believe that the best way to get messages you send to Tweeters to display perfectly is to send them to the extent possible in plain text. Avoid bold, italic, smart quotes, and angle brackets. It's easy enough to do most of these things, but to get rid of smart quotes, you have to either not use quotes at all or compose your message in a plain text editor rather than in something like Word. (A plain text quote is one where the quotes go straight up and down and there's no difference between the opening and closing quotes. Smart or curly quotes slant or curl one way for opening quotes and a different way for closing quotes.)
