And who cares - just don't download the attachment unless you know who
posted it and why it might be there. You aren't forced to download and see
all the attachments, only the ones you choose to 'save attachment' or 'open
attachment' on.
If you want a forum where attachments are allowed you will
need to go to a web forum instead of usenet, or at least a
binary usenet group.
As with all rules, there's bound to be a small minority that
disagrees... if there were not, there would be no need for
rules, would there?
The only usenet 'rules' page I have ever read was a discussion on
top-posting verses bottom-posting.
Then it seems you have not sought to find any. How about a
basic google search, even a web search at that instead of a
groups search...
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=usenet+posting+binaries+non-binary+group
I have put the word 'rules' in quotes as
it wasn't a rules page, but just someone's opinion. That particular argument
made a lot of sense and I support that, but I have never seen or read any
official usenet rules. I didn't even know newsgroups were called usenet by
some - I just use Outlook Express and choose which (3) newsgroups I want to
read and contribute to.
This opinion that images and binaries shouldn't be posted seems to stand in
the way of progress and makes things deliverately awkward for people. I
would seriously like to know why you and everyone wants to stand in the way
of progress? Allowing attachments in this group could not cause any problems
for anyone - if you dont' want to see an attachment, then don't open it, so
why blankly forbid it?
Understand that part of usenet's virtue is universal
accessibility, low bandwidth, universal support. Just
because you happen to want attachments, that is not the
purpose to a non-binary group.
Perhaps you have a high bandwidth account, but what about
the rest of the world? What about the burden on news
servers which are already at or beyond capacity? In some
cases with some ISPs, people are lucky to have the ISP still
carrying usenet service at all. A single binary will tend
to be multiple times the size of all the text in a typical
group for one if not many days.
Plus, using OE you should know more than most that
attachments are a security risk. OE has in the past been
vulnerable to things you didn't have to actively open by
choice. Was usenet supposted to wait until _you_ decide all
newsreaders are safe 'n secure? What date was that exactly
or has it not arrived yet?
Lots of things seem like progress, but are fairly minor
details. If you would like to offer free hosting and anon
access to a fileserver then you can offer that whenever
someone wanted to attach a binary. Otherwise there are
other ways to get an image hosted, and considering the time
spent posting, taking a picture, it is very little effort to
just post to another site and link it here.
I will now time how long it takes me to link an image
attachment.
First I'll google for "free image hosting".
First hit was
http://www.imageshack.us
On their homepage I select the source of the image and input
the email address.
After uploading it gives a direct link to the image,
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1223/pancakebunnyls7.jpg
That took approx 45 seconds (I wasn't in a rush).
