G.ABRAMS@SU-SCORE.ARPA (Marshall D. Abrams) (01/09/86)
I have only been moderating INFO-ATARI for a month or so. My observations
may be flawed. But let me add them to the attached.
Mail re-distributed by SU-SCORE's mailer on behalf of INFO-ATARI sometimes
gets the field ERRORS-TO:INFOR-ATARI-REQUEST@SU-SCORE added to the
header. I think that SCORE is the only entity that knows about this
address, so that is where the addition occurs. It occurs to mail sent from
more sites than ucbvax. I suspect that it depends on the original host
mailer's sequence of header lines.
The purpose is to reduce the amount of error messages annoying original
contributors. INFO-ATARI-REQUEST is the official address to which all
requests for addition and deletion from the list should be sent. It is
also the only location where somebody can take action on complaints
from mailers about hosts not reachable, individual users unknown, etc.
I hope this adds to the general state of knowledge.
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Return-Path: <@SRI-BISHOP.ARPA:TYSON@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Received: from SRI-BISHOP.ARPA by SU-SCORE.ARPA with TCP; Wed 8 Jan 86 13:47:29-PST
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 86 13:50 PST
From: Mabry Tyson <TYSON@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Subject: Re: 'that depends' said the catapillar 'on where you want go'
To: imagen!turner@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
cc: info-atari-request@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Fcc: SRI-WARBUCKS:USR:[TYSON.MAIL]MYMAIL.MAI
In-Reply-To: <171@imagen.UUCP>
Message-ID: <860108135031.4.TYSON@SRI-BISHOP.ARPA>
I apologize. I had thought a whole bunch of people had seen the ERRORS-TO:
field and were doing it themselves. Apparently it was being done without
your knowledge.
Judging by the message you just sent, your host imagen talks directly
to ucbvax. Then ucbvax talks to SCORE which then sends it to me at SRI-AI.
The Arpa protocols are pretty clear about what happens to message headers and
such. The UUCP guys like to get in and "fix" your message (by changing the
addresses deep within the header). So I suspect that someone hacked ucbvax
to add the Errors-To field if it is a message to INFO-ATARI.
I just noticed that, horrors upon horrors, the ucbvax people really screw it
up and put the RETURN-PATH to be info-atari-request@SU-SCORE !!! When I get
mail that has come through ucbvax I get notified that it was sent by
INFO-ATARI-REQUEST@SCORE. (The RETURN-PATH in the internet world is supposed
to be the God's truth of how to get back to the sender. After all, the sender
can put whatever he wants in the FROM: field. Each host along the way is
supposed to put in all the info to get back through him back to the previous
host. So for a message from you to me via INFO-ATARI, the return path should
have been
<@SU-SCORE.ARPA:imagen!turner@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU>
but is actually
<@SU-SCORE.ARPA:info-atari-request@SU-SCORE.ARPA>.
It is my opinion that the postmaster at UCBVAX should fix this failure to follow
Arpanet protocols. If I were postmaster at SCORE or the moderator for
INFO-ATARI, I would point this out to him (postmaster@ucbvax).
I also apologize because when I (just today) sent in about 3 requests for address
changes, I realized how automatic it was to type just the name of the mailing
list and not include the -REQUEST part.
I am also concerned a little that some of the readers of INFO-ATARI may
think that our glorious moderator was responsible for that message. If
there is any more discussion of this on the whole list, please mention
that it was not he. You should feel free to say it was me that sent
that message. I kinda hate to send out a message just to say it was me
and not the moderator but will gladly do so should either of you desire.
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