HTML Email Mystery

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HTML Email Mystery

BoneHeadicus

3:32 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

In trying to explain the perils of forwarding these chain mail thingys to my dad, I discovered something I never knew. If I open the email in Outlook the pictures display. If I save the html to my hard drive and open it, the pictures dont show up. Upon inquisitive investigation of the source I happened upon this:

What is that cid thing and how does it work in Outlook and not on the hard drive ?

rcjordan

7:01 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

BH and I have been discussing this off-board because I did not really think it was affiliate code of some sort... Still, circumstantial evidence did seem to add up based on a couple of items I asked about (nature of chain email topic, etc)... Now I'm really beginning to be suspicious. I knew of at least one network that uses "CID" as an affiliate ID marker. Then, by coincidence, I just ran across another cid in the referral url while posting in the Dogpile/PFP thread [webmasterworld.com]

Hmmmmmm.... affiliate code buried in a chain email, now that would be diabolical.

mivox

7:06 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

Wow... rake in the pennies with each chain email, eh? Could be the wave of the future. I'll have to turn off HTML rendering for my email.

rcjordan

7:15 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

Whether or not this particular incident is affiliate-driven or not, an html email is the same as a pop-up, it can be loaded with plenty of affiliate code. Just because you don't see it on the mouseover, don't think it's not there. Drastic pointed out the js to hide the code in the status bar, there's even a checkbox to include that snippet on CJ, so it's definitely mainstream.

BoneHeadicus

7:28 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

rc you're right on target. The company this originated from in the header is also located in Maine...thats what threw me cuz the relative who sent it to us also is in Maine...coincidence.

I will post the code minus the addresses so we are all on the same page if you want to contribute to the Scotland Yard investigation of

Affiliate tracking mystery mail?

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff
background=cid:000c01c0ac4c$52019020$11a81918@maine.rr.com>

<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title= href="">
</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=;
href=";"></A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 13, 2001 7:19 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fw: It works!!! I love it!!!!</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>�</DIV>
<DIV>�<SPAN id=__#Ath#SignaturePos__></SPAN>�</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><STRONG><FONT size=4><FONT face="Calisto MT">I
THOUGHT I SAW A TWEEDIE BIRD....NO TACOS.....NO
RONALDS.....</FONT></FONT></STRONG>� </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">-----</DIV>�Send this to 6 people and you
will see the <BR>� Taco Bell dog run across your screen .� If you
send this to 8 <BR>�� people Ronald Mcdonald comes out and
<BR>�� attacks the taco bell dog.� it is really funny
<BR>� and it works!! you have to<IMG
style="LEFT: 0px; POSITION: absolute"
src="cid:000b01c0ac4c$51f9ef00$11a81918@maine.rr.com" name=bounce> try it .
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>
function bounce1(){
window.tm=setInterval('bounceIt()',1);
}
function bounce2(){
clearInterval(window.tm);
}
var x=44;
var y=2;
var offsetx=2;
var offsety=2;
function bounceIt() {
var el = document.all.bounce;
x+=offsetx;
y+=offsety;
if ((x+el.offsetWidth>document.body.clientWidth+document.body.scrollLeft) �� (x<=document.body.scrollLeft)) {
offsetx=-offsetx;
if (x<document.body.scrollLeft) x=document.body.scrollLeft;
if (x+el.width>document.body.clientWidth+document.body.scrollLeft)
x=document.body.clientWidth-el.offsetWidth+document.body.scrollLeft;
};
if ((y+el.offsetHeight>document.body.clientHeight+document.body.scrollTop) �� (y<=document.body.scrollTop)) {
offsety=-offsety;
if (y<document.body.scrollTop) y=document.body.scrollTop;
if (y+el.offsetHeight>document.body.clientHeight+document.body.scrollTop)
y=document.body.clientHeight-el.offsetHeight+document.body.scrollTop;
};
el.style.posTop = y;
el.style.posLeft = x;
}
window.onload=bounce1;
window.onunload=bounce2;
</SCRIPT>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>
<P><B><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></B></P><BR><BR>
<P><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><<ATT02497.GIF>> </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT></P></BODY></HTML>

My question is still how does outlook reference that cid as a url?

sugarkane

11:56 pm on Mar 14, 2001 (gmt 0)

>My question is still how does outlook reference that cid as a url?

Probable explanation here [internet-tips.net] - it's something to do with outlook 'stationary'

rcjordan

3:14 am on Mar 15, 2001 (gmt 0)

Thanks, Froggyman. That certainly appears to solve BH's "mystery."

BoneHeadicus

4:01 am on Mar 15, 2001 (gmt 0)

So a cid is actually a url in the mime standard.

Thanks all.

I got another html email today...the first one where they referenced a flash file...so I had an animated talking email trying to sell me "seo" services. ;)