Question: I receive daily digests from a Mailman list. Some of the digests contain text that is unreadable - it's just a bunch of random characters. What is this and how can I read it?
Answer:
Mailman subscribers can choose to receive either plain text or MIME formatted digests. If your subscription is set to receive a plain text digest, any MIME formatted messages or attachments that are sent to the list will show up as random characters in your digest. The solution is to change your subscription to receive MIME formatted digests.
To change the type of digest you are receiving, go to the list's information page at
https://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/listnamewhere "listname" is replaced with the actual name of the list. Log in with your UW NetID and password or fill in your email address next to the "Unsubscribe or edit options" button at the bottom of the page, then click on this button. If you did not log in with your UW NetID and password, you will need to enter your Mailman password. On the membership configuration screen, scroll down until you see the "Get MIME or Plain Text Digests?" box. Choose MIME (if you also choose "Set globally," all of your Mailman subscriptions will be changed) and then click on the "Submit My Changes" button at the bottom of the screen.
Date: 08/2004 Author: R. Skiver Thompson