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Re: Understanding response protocols

2004-09-29 09:13:10

In <4159F9EC(_dot_)3020603(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> Bruce Lilly 
<blilly(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> writes:

Charles Lindsey wrote:

The only place where it is known that a crosspost is occurring is at the
original sender.

Not true, on at least two counts:

1. an author might not know that a particular mailbox expands to a list.

Sure, the author might not know all sorts of things, but mostly a decision
to crosspost to two distinct mailing lists is a deliberate decision by the
author. But for sure if the author is not aware of it, then agents further
down the chain will be even less aware of it.

Hence the original sender is that latest point at which there is any hope
of preserving the fact that there is a crosspost so that subsequent agents
can arrange to reply to both. The fact that it may not work in all such
cases is no reason not to take advantage of the possibility when it can.

Unless, of course, you have a better solution to propose.

2. In the case of a mailing list expander where one of the expansion
  mailboxes is a list submission mailbox, the maintainer of the
  first list expander might indeed know that another list is being fed.

In that case, the first list expander is in the position of the author in
case #1. He is in a position to know that he is generating a new crosspost
and to enshrine that information using whatever technique we eventually
come up with.

Therefore, any information to inform subsequent agents
that crossposting is afoot HAS to be placed in the message by the original
sender.

Bad conclusion based on a false premise.

And you have a better solution?

The MFT proposal at least provides a possibility for the original sender
to specify such information.

Which proposal? I haven't seen one that states that MFT "indicates that
a crosspost is occurring".

It can be arranged that MFT includes all the crossposted lists, which will
at least get replies sent to all the lists. If the MFT can also indicate
which of its addresses were lists, that would be even better.

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133   Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
Email: chl(_at_)clerew(_dot_)man(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk      Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave, 
CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.
PGP: 2C15F1A9      Fingerprint: 73 6D C2 51 93 A0 01 E7 65 E8 64 7E 14 A4 AB A5