[tlug] [OT] email client tips?

[Travis Cardwell <travis.cardwell@example.com>]

I am migrating off of GMail [1] and am once again running my own email 
server [2].  After failing to find an acceptable webmail application [3], 
I decided to try going back to using a desktop email client.  I run a 
lightweight window manager, and the heavy clients (Evolution and KMail) 
clutter my environment and cause issues.  I am currently using Thunderbird 
(actually Icedove), but there are many annoyances and little hope that the 
application will improve [4].  Does anybody have any tips for how to deal 
with the following issues?

* I have been unable to get line-wrapping to work well, despite attempts 
to configure it in the "advanced" config editor.  When composing a new 
message, lines are wrapped in the editor, but lines of a paragraph are 
joined together when the email is sent!

* The ability to use an external editor seems to have been removed. 
Thanks to the (stupid) way that Thunderbird manages quotes (">" characters 
are not enough), one cannot simply cut-and-paste content to/from an editor 
when replying to a message.

There are more annoyances, but those above are by far the most critical to 
me.  If I am unable to solve them, I will likely stop using Thunderbird... 
 What alternative email client would you recommend?  It is time to go 
back to using a terminal email client?!?!

Thanks,

Travis

----

[1] I have wanted to stop using GMail for a long time for a number of 
reasons, but convenience and laziness have resulted in significant 
procrastination.  While most bloat (index tabs!?!?) can be disabled, the 
change to non-textarea message composition (requiring more actions to edit 
in vim since it is not compatible with the It's All Text! add-on, and 
introduced numerous bugs) was what finally got me to act.

[2] I think that people should avoid using centralized services for 
storing their own data, as decentralization is necessary to keep the 
Internet healthy.

[3] I refuse to put PHP on my server, and there are surprisingly few 
non-PHP webmail applications.  I tried Citadel, but it does not match how 
I use email at all.

[4] 
http://blog.mozilla.org/beyond-the-code/2012/07/09/about-the-future-of-thunderbird/