Mark Crispin <MRC(_at_)cac(_dot_)washington(_dot_)edu> writes:
|
| The impression we are given by the advocates of mnemonic is that
| `all of Europe' insists upon mnemonic and that only `US-centric
| thinking' is keeping mnemonic out of MIME. If you don't like
| these people speaking from you -- and I readily understand why you
| don't -- then please speak up.
Markku isn't the only European who resents the "European according to
Keld Simonsen". I have become disgusted with Keld's continuous
distortion of the truth to favor his own more or less private cause.
If his references to fora which have supported him are of the same
quality as the fora in which I also find myself participating, and I
have some evidence that they are, their support is based on Keld's
insistent, noisy behavior (just as we see it here), which is only
stoppable by agreeing to his concerns, and accepting his pointing to
other, prestigious fora who have "supported" them. Few of those who
accept such references are aware that the purported support is not
strong, despite Keld's verbiage to the contrary, and that they are
largely circular in nature, spiraling down to Keld and his troff hacks
over a large number of years.
Although I actually think Keld has done something pretty cool for his
Danish needs, and that it may even fly outside of Denmark on its
technical merits alone, I am most wary of the politicization his
proposal has undergone, and I do not support it. But, and this is a
valid point, it is a means to solve a hairy problem, and the most
likely reason to adopt it is, just as is the case for that abominable
hack called "sendmail," "because it's there." True, this thing _has_
solved some problems, but on a small scale, as seen from the users.
It may be that this thing is hidden in sendmails on the transport
layer so that people don't see it in action, and Keld has
underhandedly admitted that this is the case, there is no, repeat NO,
reason to move it from transparent transport encoding to body-part
encoding or character set status in MIME.
| It is true that we are not always aware of European conditions,
| and it is difficult to judge on a different continent whether we
| are seeing a small group of noisy people or the concensus of all
| of Europe. This is particularly the case when the purportedly
| `European' position taken is a totally unreasonable one.
I don't pretend to speak for Europe, but my perception is that there
is indeed a small group of noisy people and not at all the concensus
of any noticeable part of Europe we're seeing. I also agree that the
position is unreasonable, and should be abandoned.
| We have heard second-hand evidence that mnemonic has nowhere near
| the status that its advocates claim, yet there are very few
| first-hand comments.
Good point. Others have also asked for first-hand comments that
mnemonic is being used and has the status its advocate claims, yet no
such thing has been produced. This ought to make people judge the
matter on somewhat different grounds than the sleazy sales tactics
seen so far.
| So, thank you for your note and please share your opinions with
| us.
My pleasure.
Best regards,
</Erik>
--
Erik Naggum | +47-295-0313 | ISO 8879 SGML | Memento,
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