self modifying HTML email from info@cair.com ???

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Well fuck me (gently) with a chainsaw if I didn't just see one of the weirder things ever...

User calls in with a problem. There's a certain emai in her inbox that when you Reply or Forward, it inserts a chunk of text before it actually sends the message. Hmmm....

In your inbox, it shows this above whatever your reply was: (- user info, of course)

Do we already know about this incident?
--------------------------

 

---

 

From: CAIR <info@cair.com>
To:xx , xxxl
Sent: Mon Sep 13 09:23:34 2010
Subject: Burned, Shot Quran Left at Tenn. Mosque

 

 

An even weirder one, when you reply, this block is hidden...

(Edit to Add)

Oh, yeah... If you change the Reply or Forward message format from HTML to RTF, the odd behavior goes away.

Also, def environment is OUtlook 2003 w/ Word 2003 set as editor

Comments

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Was anyone able to capture the source?

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

I saved a copy of the email in its native HTML form. I'll get it online and post it.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

The file is called htmlemail.zip

It is located at http://happilytwisted.com/ljitems

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

"-- " at the start of a line is supposed to be a "sig-separator" - but the drain-bramaged PoS that is Lookout also interprets any line starting with "--" as a sig-sep.

I'd guess that she's somehow managed to get that stored in her signature.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

First glance makes it look like it happens for others that reply too. I'll have to dig in deeper on that.

Is that Lookout specific or general Outlook behavior?

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

I've seen it in 2003 and earlier - I haven't looked at it 2007 (or 2010).

I suspect that part of the problem you're seeing is that Microsoft pull the "we know better than you, so we'll hide a large chunk of the useful information" stunt - making any sort of diagnosis a real pain in the arse.

If you can get the HTML source on-line I'll be interested to take a peek.

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

Got the source - be interested to see the source of a reply (before it's sent) too.

Just after the end of the text that gets inserted there's this:

<META content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)" name=Generator><!--[if !mso]>

That last part is a comment which Microsoft insert in the HTML to say "do the rest of this if you're not Outlook" (if not ms-outlook).

I'd be interested to know what your user's mail client is, and the sender's mail client too. I suspect the sender is using Outlook, and has the "use Word as your email editor" option selected. But I might be wrong on the latter.

I think it's an MS-artifact caused by the fact that email was never designed for HTML, and was never designed to have the cruel and un-natural things done to it that Microsoft do! :-)

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Odds are very high that the client side is Outlook 2003 with Word 2003 set as the editor. (that is our default environment)

I do not currently have access to an unsent Reply that is known to be problematic.

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's an artifact of Outlook trying to be clever with HTML and getting it's underwear very seriously in a mess in the process. I'd say it's nothing to worry about.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Anyone who enables Word as email editor when they have a choice deserves what they get.

Seriously, I HATE the fact that Office 2010 enforces it - it was the cause of 90% of Outlook problems (other than frigging PSTs) we had back in the dark old days.