This list is, in my definition, spam.
Not because it is unsolicited.
Not because the message aren't useful or interesting (or infuriating)
It is effectively spam because the email system and tools makes it too
difficult to manage and work with the messages.
Our current email systems are a very bad metaphor. Sure, I've written
enough of my own email programs and systems over the last forty years
and don't apologize for it. Even sold some. The problem is that people
seem to think that the current approach really scales when it's really
just the best we could implement in an afternoon.
On issue, as I mentioned in a previous message
(http://www.frankston.com/?name=spamfixation) is the think of the email
address as a capability and not ones "real" name. And, along with it,
stop using meaningful names in the DSN because they don't work confuse
the innocent and unravel since they are recycled.
There is a concept of a message (either stand alone or in a context).
Email exchanges messages and news services manage pools of them
(NNTP/IMAP4). Lotus Notes did a good job of melding them but the UI is
very clunky by today's standards and it has wandered into IBM corporate
requirements.
The first step, as I note, is to give me the ability to manage my
attention. Knowing why I get the message is a start. The ability to view
and access and share messages is the next issue. That's mostly an app
issue though the IETF can help by standardizing markers for messages as
additional header fields. (or, if appropriate, envelope fields - SMTP
has a design error in that it doesn't preserve the envelope).
These are separable efforts. Since the message is a unit it can be
transported via the existing store and forward SMTP system. MIME is a
good example of that. Of course, the message must be encrypted for an
end-to-end solution. This moots content filtering though it also becomes
moot since you won't be barraged with so many messages to your one true
identity. Of course, you will then have to take responsibility for the
safety of active messages but you can install various anti-virus and
other tools to assist but nothing will protect you against the urgent
warning to type "deltree /y c:\".
The question then is what the purpose of this list is. Is it just a
quick hack to create a temporary invasive solution to problems caused by
a bad metaphor?
Or is to think about architecture issues that provide a long term
approach which gives us mechanisms to create our own solutions?
_______________________________________________
Asrg mailing list
Asrg(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/asrg