how to handle requests for HTML signatures

[Charlie Derr <cderr () SIMONS-ROCK EDU>]

We had a staff member (working in the Alumni Relations office) discover HTML signatures.  Now other staff members are 
interested in also creating an HTML signature and are asking us for help.  This is in order to include various web2.0 
icons (facebook, twitter, etc...) at the bottom of the email so that email recipients can simply click on the links in 
order to connect to our Alumni presence on these various services.

On the one hand, it's 2010 and I think that there's a need to try to embrace "the new reality" that includes these 
services because it's really a good way for our alumni to "gather" and be engaged (perhaps leading some alumns to 
continue to have a close relationship with the institution, providing all sorts of benefits, including potential future 
donations).  So I want to support that as much as I possibly can.

On the other hand, helping staff members craft HTML email is something I've always done only reluctantly.  When the goal 
is to actually create clickable links that are "obscured" by recognizable icons, I feel that I can't in good conscience 
lend assistance to this task (for the obvious reasons that I hopefully don't have to explain in detail here -- mainly 
that it encourages users to click on email links -- something I've always tried to teach is a "danger").

Have any of you run into this issue?  Any advice?  Should I bite the bullet and assist with trying to at least have 
local versions of the icons (so that at least no content is fetched from the web in order to display the graphics)?

    thanks so very much in advance for any insight,
             ~c