So... many have complained that they're receiving broken e-mails in their Gmail accounts. Some non-Gmail users also complained that all e-mails originating from Gmail accounts arrive broken. So I thought I'd lend a helping hand.

As far as I can tell the issue here is the use of the "UTF-8" encoding. To Google's credit, UTF-8 encoding is the future and so we should adopt it. Ok, maybe that's a bit too fascist, but it's gonna happen sooner or later. (No, I'm not that naive to think that the world can make everything UTF-8 compliant overnight) What Gmail has done is the "right" thing. If they had implemented a feature that would read the user's default encoding scheme and used that instead of UTF-8 that would have solved some people's problems, but it wouldn't have been the "right" thing. This is a bit of a dicey issue as all e-mail readers/writers have to play by the rules or the poor users suffer. At any rate, here goes.

The reason why a Gmail user can't read that e-mail from your Korean buddy filled with fancy schmancy abbreviated Korean chat phrases is because the sender used an encoding scheme that isn't UTF-8 to compose their e-mail, but their e-mail client didn't correctly specify the encoding used to compose the e-mail in the e-mail header. So you're thinking, "OOoook smart ass! 'Nuf of this ABCD-895 Klingon talk! Tell me how I can read my pal's e-mail inside Gmail, already!". Alright, hold down the temper there... Kids living in the internet age sure has no patience. Sheesh... Ok, so here's how you do it. (Instructions assume the use of Internet Explorer since that's what majority of the people who complained about it were using)

1. Locate the "More options" link to the far right of the e-mail you're trying to decipher.
2. Click "Show original" in the list of links that just showed up.
3. You'll see a new window with the same e-mail (with a lot of weird information at the top) show up.
4. If you still can't read it, then make sure you set the encoding of the Page to your best guess (Korean/EUC would be your best bet if you're used to getting Korean e-mails from your pal) by right clicking on the page and selecting "Encoding".
5. Voila! You can read now!

Now you want to know how your non-Gmail buddies can read e-mails originating from Gmail loaded with extra-fancified and non-emotional chat jargons? Rest assured, I can help you here as well.

1. If you're using a web-based e-mail client such as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail, etc... then simply open up the broken e-mail and change the encoding to "UTF-8" by right clicking on the page and selecting "Encoding"
2. If you're using a desktop client such as Outlook Express that are reasonably smart, you should have no problems since Gmail correctly specifies the encoding scheme as UTF-8 in the header. It is, of course, possible that something else is messed up and you're still having problems. If that's the case, then look for a way to change the encoding of the selected e-mail to "UTF-8".

I know for a fact that Hotmail.COM defaults to the user-prefered encoding scheme for reading and doesn't specify the charset of the content of the e-mail in the header. This is the source of most people's complaints (at least the ones I've received). What Google could do to remedy this is use an iframe for the content of each e-mail so that people can right click on it and switch the encoding scheme to whatever they want. I hope this helps some of you~

P.S: I should add that I'm extra bitter today about the subject of online communication and the loss of personal emotions in our daily lives among people of the internet generation. I'm sure you've noticed it in the entry. ;)