kjones@talos.pm.com (Kyle Jones) (08/02/90)
Randal Schwartz writes: > No, I like the idea that someone said earlier... if you don't want the > Path to be used, put BOGUS!yourhost! in the Path instead of just > "yourhost!". Pretty soon, nobody will be using those things "cuz they > always bounce". I like this idea, too. Now, if only we could get this into an official patch to B news and C news distributions... Whaddaya say, Geoff, Henry, Rick?
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (08/03/90)
Randal Schwartz writes: > No, I like the idea that someone said earlier... if you don't want the > Path to be used, put BOGUS!yourhost! in the Path instead of just > "yourhost!". Pretty soon, nobody will be using those things "cuz they > always bounce". Or you could just add a reply-to line to the header, if your news reader doesn't do that already. Since I often post from various machines but want mail on this one, I can always tell if someone has a brain dead mailer. That allows even the brain dead to reply, if you are more interested in getting information than stopping bad practives. I edit the headers strongly with the editor macro which sets my modes and things for news. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
del@thrush.mlb.semi.harris.com (Don Lewis) (08/03/90)
In article <2382@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes: >os.pm.com> >Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) >Organization: GE Corp R&D Center, Schenectady NY >Lines: 19 > >Randal Schwartz writes: > > No, I like the idea that someone said earlier... if you don't want the > > Path to be used, put BOGUS!yourhost! in the Path instead of just > > "yourhost!". Pretty soon, nobody will be using those things "cuz they > > always bounce". > > Or you could just add a reply-to line to the header, if your news >reader doesn't do that already. Since I often post from various >machines but want mail on this one, I can always tell if someone has a >brain dead mailer. > > That allows even the brain dead to reply, if you are more interested >in getting information than stopping bad practives. If you compile rn without the INTERNET option, it will always use the Path: to reply to. It won't use Reply-To:. How many uucp-only sites are going to use the INTERNET option? -- Don "Truck" Lewis Harris Semiconductor Internet: del@mlb.semi.harris.com PO Box 883 MS 62A-028 Phone: (407) 729-5205 Melbourne, FL 32901
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (08/03/90)
In article <1990Aug2.134734.15570@talos.pm.com> kjones@talos.pm.com (Kyle Jones) writes: > > No, I like the idea that someone said earlier... if you don't want the > > Path to be used, put BOGUS!yourhost! in the Path instead of just > > "yourhost!". Pretty soon, nobody will be using those things "cuz they > > always bounce". > >I like this idea, too. Now, if only we could get this into an >official patch to B news and C news distributions... Whaddaya >say, Geoff, Henry, Rick? I'm only gonna say this once more: we don't break things just because people think it would be neat to bully others into upgrading their software. We're quite willing to say "for technical reason X, we are making this change, and people with ancient software can upgrade or suffer", but X has to exist. Deliberately breaking things just to force upgrades strikes us as the equivalent of sticking nails in the tires of your neighbor's 1963 Cadillac because you disapprove of its EPA mileage rating. If Path lines are as useless for replies as some people claim, the practice of using them for replies will go away by itself. If they remain useful, why not let the disadvantaged keep using them? They have to be there for loop breaking anyway. -- The 486 is to a modern CPU as a Jules | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology Verne reprint is to a modern SF novel. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
wisner@hayes.fai.alaska.edu (Bill Wisner) (08/04/90)
I've occasionally considered modifying my news software to make it use some seperator other than ! in the Path line, which was legal when last I read the RFCs. Unlike Henry Spencer, USENET guerrilla warfare doesn't bother me too much. Bill Wisner <wisner@hayes.fai.alaska.edu> Gryphon Gang Fairbanks AK 99775 "Nice attitude, Wisner." -- Russ "Random" Smith <russ@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
david@monymsys.uucp (David Kozinn) (08/04/90)
In article <1990Aug3.011037.4579@mlb.semi.harris.com> del@thrush.mlb.semi.harris.com (Don Lewis) writes: > >If you compile rn without the INTERNET option, it will always use the >Path: to reply to. It won't use Reply-To:. How many uucp-only sites >are going to use the INTERNET option? Sites that are running smail or sendmail who don't happen to have an Internet connection. I do this myself, and I'm uucp-only. I doubt that I'm unique. -- David Kozinn | UUCP: uunet!vmp!monymsys!david MONY Financial Services MD 75-14 | Domain: monymsys!david@vmp.com Glenpointe Centre West | GEnie: D.KOZINN Teaneck, NJ 07666-6888 | Phone: +1-201-907-6990 -- David Kozinn | UUCP: uunet!vmp!monymsys!david MONY Financial Services MD 75-14 | Domain: monymsys!david@vmp.com Glenpointe Centre West | GEnie: D.KOZINN Teaneck, NJ 07666-6888 | Phone: +1-201-907-6990
mills@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Gary Mills) (08/05/90)
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >I'm only gonna say this once more: we don't break things just because >people think it would be neat to bully others into upgrading their software. Okay, I agree that it would be irresponsible for us to generate bogus Path headers. Somebody might even invent a filter to remove the bogus parts >If Path lines are as useless for replies as some people claim, the practice >of using them for replies will go away by itself. I once discovered somebody gatewaying news articles into an e-mail distribution list and rebuilding the `From:' lines from the Path header. When I complained to the postmaster there that he was throwing away our nice domain address and substituting an unreplyable path, he said he had to do that because most of the From and Reply-To headers were bogus because they just said user@host.uucp. So, there are lots of things to fix to make replies work. -- -Gary Mills- -University of Manitoba- -Winnipeg-
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) (08/06/90)
>I once discovered somebody gatewaying news articles into an e-mail >distribution list and rebuilding the `From:' lines from the Path header. >When I complained to the postmaster there that he was throwing away our >nice domain address and substituting an unreplyable path, he said he had >to do that because most of the From and Reply-To headers were bogus because >they just said user@host.uucp. So, there are lots of things to fix to >make replies work. But user@host.uucp works in many, if not most cases. We have all the tools to fix things up (like maps, etc.) -- we just need to use them. -- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com