There are two problems with URLs posted at bikelist.org.
1. Many mail programs mistakely wrap text at 80 chars per line. Bad programming. The mail relay (not necessarily bikelist.org) is not following RFC822 for email transmission. This wraps a long line across 2 lines. My solution is as follows - -
a. I use a program call 'webmailcompose' and firefox. I can select any text with the mouse, right-click it an open it as an URL. This can be programmed with 8 different composition methods, and one of mine is programmed to take an ebay item # and produce a minimum-sized URL. So from the ebay item page, I can make a minimum URL by just right-clicking on the URL number (only 63 chars !!!)
(Lorraine Hamilton Frameset)
I prefer this type of URL because if a mailer splits it up, it's easy to cut & paste the item # into ebay.
2. Flickr uses the stupid 'at-sign' character in its URLs and Alex Wetmore, owner of bikelist.org, has told me he's unwilling to fix his spam-killing software which changes 'at-sign' (one-char) into '(at)'. My solution is as follows :
a. Enter the flickr URL and go to the website. I can do this with one selection & right click with webmail compose. Flickr redirects your original URL and changes N->n.
b. edit the URL in the browser URI box to change it back:
(at)n -> 'at-sign'N
Alex's too-simple URL rewriter will mess up this message so I'm spelling out the one-character 'at-sign' to avoid damage from his too-simple URL rewriter.
- Don Gillies (who has written 2 mailers before) San Diego, CA, USA