Topic: Yahoogroups
Uuencoded Attachments
Q: I set my list to strip attachments and an attachment went thru! Is Yahoo broken???
A: No, Yahoo's not broken, but there is one kind of encoding for attached files that makes them not really an attachment, called "uuencode".
When a file, a virus, a picture, a document, is uuencoded, it is converted to coded text, lots and lots of characters in gibberish, and it's put in the body of the message so it's no longer an attachment. That's why YG can't strip it, it's just text and it's in the body of the message.
Then when the message with the uuencoded text is received, if the recipient is using an email program that automatically decodes uuencoded text (like Outlook Express and Eudora plus others), the program reassembles the uuencoded text into an attachment that you can click on.
That can be really confusing for people who are members of a list that strips attachments, making it appear that an attachment was sent thru the list and that YG didn't strip it. But it wasn't a real attachment, it's their email program that converts it to an attachment after they receive it.
Most viruses are NOT sent as uuencoded tho. But you never know when one will do that so it's necessary to be cautious about any attachment, not matter whether the list strips attachments or not.