Bill McQuillan <McQuilWP(_at_)pobox(_dot_)com> wrote:
What is the usefulness of a header field containing a URI which only
fetches another copy of the same message?
Even if that is all it did, it would be useful in this scenario: I have
a copy of a message in my personal mailbox, and I'm creating a web page
in which I want to refer to that message. Rather than copy the message
into my own web page, I can copy the URI from the Archived-At: field
of the message into a href attribute in the web page, and let readers
fetch the message from the public archive. A similar argument applies
when I am sending a message to a large number of recipients, a few of
whom might be interested in following my reference to another message.
Rather than including a copy of the other message (causing it to be
pushed out to everyone), I can copy the URI and let the readers fetch it
if they care to.
There is also the possibility that the proposed header field will allow
more than just fetching the message; in particular, it might allow an
easy way to access other messages in the same thread.
AMC