howto

I find inline GnuPG (GPG) keys to be totally distracting and an additional step that discourages new users from adopting email encryption. Buried deep within the settings of Thunderbird lies a way to attach your public GnuPG key, rather than sending it as plain text in the email.

The trick I could never figure out until now was that the setting is actually in the options when you are writing an email, not when you are in the main window of Thunderbird. You should actually disable signing of the message, as you will now be sending an unsigned email to the recipient, who should then import your public key. Here are the steps to attach your public key:

On a Mac, or Ubuntu Linux machine the steps are the same:

1. Compose a new email
2. Click the OpenPGP menu
3. Select default composition options
4. Select Signing/Encryption options
5. Go to "Advanced"
6. Click the radio button for attach my public key to messages (check!)

Like other lost souls, I find myself looking this up on Wikipedia a few times a year for the past few years, getting frustrated then getting distracted by something more interesting.

The difference is so subtle and totally irrelevant in many contexts that it is easy to overlook. The difference between a URL (say "elll") and a URI (eye, matey) is location. URL is a more specific, but often informally misused category. It describes a location on the network, whereas URI could describe a location, name, type, or other attribute. The short of it is that you can start calling URLs URIs and it will make you sound smarter at your next tech conference or geek party, if you go to either of those. For a more cerebral explanation, check the W3.

I find the Yahoo! Groups web interface to be totally visually horrendous and difficult to use. I forget my password every single time. I can't stand the advertising. After I try to recover my password, I forget the answer to the "secret question" that I need to answer in order to get my password back. I have also become convinced that I am an android, robot or other artificial life form because I can never read a CAPTCHA -- it takes an average of three tries for me to get it right.

These and many other reasons are why I won't use the Yahoo! Groups web interface. That being said, there is a lot of good stuff in Yahoo! Groups that I need access to. So, I have devised this tutorial for other people who are in a similar situation; wanting to use Yahoo! Groups, but not wanting to use the web interface. I was surprised to find that this is not covered in other places very clearly (like the Yahoo! help pages).

What it basically comes down to is using this text: -subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Lets say you want to join the Oakland Greens Yahoo! Group. In a new window or tab, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaklandgreens

• Copy the text after /group/. In this case it will be http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaklandgreens
• Send an email to whatever-that-text-is plus "-subscribe@yahoogroups.com" ( example: oaklandgreens-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )

You will receive a confirmation email that says, "Please confirm your request to join oaklandgreens". Ignore the directions in the email! They tell you to go back to the web interface, then you are back at square one with the Yahoo! Groups UI. Click "reply" from your email and (without changing the subject or body) click send. If you want to immediately send a greetings or first post to the group, send an email to the group name plus "@yahoogroups.com" (example: oaklandgreens@yahoogroups.com)

Thats it!

Also, there is a nice feature once you have joined a group. Click the link at the footer of each Yahoo! Group email that reads, "Switch format to Traditional" and it will allow you to read the group messages without any advertising. You can switch delivery to daily digest via email as well.