Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 37, No. 389.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
[1] From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links? (52)
[2] From: Tanner Durant <kekpenyo@syr.edu>
Subject: Re : [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links? (25)
[3] From: Norman Gray <norman.gray@glasgow.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links? (67)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-01-11 20:33:51+00:00
From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links?
hi Willard,
i do email with Thunderbird where i use a plugin called "safelink removal"
the result is, as advertised, the removal of the fuss
Maurizio
Il 11/01/24 08:26, Humanist ha scritto:
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 37, No. 386.
> Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
> Hosted by DH-Cologne
> www.dhhumanist.org
> Submit to:humanist@dhhumanist.org
>
>
>
>
> Date: 2024-01-11 06:41:10+00:00
> From: Willard McCarty<willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
> Subject: removing Safelinks' links
>
> Does anyone know of a tool (for Mac) that removes the links generated by
> Safelinks and its kind from an e-mail text? I do this for Humanist
> messages by hand now because these very lengthy intrusions into a text
> make reading it quite difficult. Members of Humanist, I know, innocently
> send their contributions along, but institutional software intervenes
> and in effect messes them up for Humanist, which does only plain text.
> Thus the 'convenient' links do not come through as presumably intended:
> rather than
> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/
> Humanist gets
> <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/>.
>
> Many thanks for any pointers.
>
> Yours,
> WM
> --
> Willard McCarty,
> Professor emeritus, King's College London;
> Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews; Humanist
> www.mccarty.org.uk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
e non sapevano
che celavo una continua
attesa d'andarmene
david maria turoldo
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maurizio Lana
Università del Piemonte Orientale
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-01-11 16:16:41+00:00
From: Tanner Durant <kekpenyo@syr.edu>
Subject: Re : [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links?
Hi Dr. McCarty,
It’s very possible to write some natural language processing Python script to
automatically pre-process or re-process links in the way you’re describing.
It sounds from your description that maybe your Humanist work process involves
manual review of Humanist contribution input before it goes out for publication.
It’s very possible to run all input through a Jupyter notebook with the
appropriate Python script, or even to run it through a Qualtrics app integration
or another online-only process that would scrub hyperlink format in the way
you’re looking for.
I’m looking for a way to complete some internship hours for my data science
masters, and I also have a self-employment business as a Python consultant —
feel free to email me directly if you’re interested in having me work on this
and any other techy / DH needs you may have.
I know that the hyperlink correcting script, for example, would be very fun to
design. I would need to learn more about how Humanist’s listserv software works,
but I’m hoping that I could integrate the automated hyperlink correction process
right into the software, rather than you having to manually run things through a
Jupyter notebook.
Tanner
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-01-11 10:42:04+00:00
From: Norman Gray <norman.gray@glasgow.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 37.386: removing Safelinks' links?
Willard, hello.
On 11 Jan 2024, at 7:25, Humanist wrote:
> Does anyone know of a tool (for Mac) that removes the links generated by
> Safelinks and its kind from an e-mail text?
I don't have a concrete suggestion, but will note that this _is_ like wrestling
with jelly.
> I do this for Humanist
> messages by hand now because these very lengthy intrusions into a text
> make reading it quite difficult.
Oh, don't they just, and I'm currently engaged in a bit of long-term bickering
with my institutional IT Services on this very topic. And getting nowhere.
> Members of Humanist, I know, innocently
> send their contributions along, but institutional software intervenes
> and in effect messes them up for Humanist, which does only plain text.
Just to be clear, this happens at the _receiver's_ side, which is your side in
the first instance. When you send out the Humanist email, with scrupulously
fixed URLs, it then happens again for those receivers whose institutions are (a)
using Exchange, and (b) have this feature turned on. You're seeing it in your
inbox because KCL presumably have (a) and (b).
Thus when you said
> Thus the 'convenient' links do not come through as presumably intended:
> rather than
> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/
> Humanist gets
> <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/> .
I saw the 'safelinks' version in both cases, though readers who don't have
'safelinks' would have seen the real URL in the second case. What _I_ see, in
fact, includes my own email address in both links, because of the processing
this goes through. It is claimed that this will be edited out when this email
goes to you, so who knows what others will see.
Unfortunately, there is no straightforward fix to this. It _might_ be that
sending signed emails will evade this, but that's potentially quite a fuss.
----
Enlarging the topic slightly: the 'problem' here is that Humanist, like
many/most traditional email lists, uses plain-text email only, but Exchange/MS,
and institutional IT directors and Exchange administrators, presume that HTML
email is the 'normal' email, and that plain-text is the aberration. Since
safelinks are implemented in such a way that the edit is more-or-less invisible
for HTML email (insert various bad-tempered contradicting footnotes here...),
there is a therefore a feeling on the part of email administrators, that this is
a self-inflicted problem.
I feel quite strongly that email is a fundamentally plain-text medium, but find
myself unable to come up with a convincing justification for that, that isn't
'because I'm a grumpy old fart'.
Best wishes,
Norman
--
Norman Gray : https://nxg.me.uk/
SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, UK
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