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Re: Markup in mail messages



On Fri, May 17, 2024 at 03:25:49PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> >> Actually I've been tempted to teach my mail reader to transform HTML
> >> into some lightweight markup (yeah, you need a bit of heuristics for
> >> that ;-) -- say Org, but why not its poor sister Markdown.
> > Please don't settle for markdown. I would love a org filter!
> > org-mode just handles tabular data admirably :)
> 
> Just beware that Org's code is generally written under the implicit
> assumption that the Org document is trusted, so if you try to reuse
> parts of Org's code to do the rendering be extra mindful of the
> potential for security holes.

My tip of the hat towards Org was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The
problem I actually see with Org (and with Markdown, to a lesser
extent) is that they are pretty ad-hocish and tinker friendly.

Which is a *big* plus on the one hand.

On the other, though, once you want to formalize the thing (a
prerequisite to be able to even start talking about security),
a myriad of dialects has evolved.

Then you either need a dictatorship (Github aka Microsoft, cf.
"github flavoured Markdown") or you have a long and painful
process (Org is trying, currently).

The upside of Org and Markdown is that you (currently, at least)
don't need a special reader to make sense of them.

But (that's the fourth or fifth hand?) if you follow the evolution
of HTML, back then (TM) you didn't need a special reader either.
Looking at the crud generated by e.g. "modern" Microsoft mailers,
though...

There's room for information technology sociologists here :)

Cheers
-- 
t

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