Re: how to handle requests for HTML signatures

[Dan Oachs <doachs () GAC EDU>]

A couple of the departments here started adding html and images to their 
signatures despite our recommendation not to.   So far the main issue is 
that their email will get filtered as spam on occasion because it 
contains html, and an image etc. We can make sure their email is 
delivered fine locally, but of course we have no ability to keep others 
from dumping their email into the spam bucket.

    --Dan Oachs




On 12/09/2010 03:56 PM, Charlie Derr wrote:
> 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