I've been staying out of this since what John has been saying is pretty much
identical to my own point of view, but I think it is now time to voice some
support of his position.
But the march of time has continued. What Yahoo does is now typical.
Deal with it.
It is indeed typical, and might even be by some measures called restrained.
Those of us who write and/or maintain list processing software are under
constant pressure to add a multitude of features along the lines of what Yahoo
does. And some of us deal with it better than others...
Anyone who thinks this trend is going to stop, let alone reverse, is simply
being delusional. For heaven's sake, we just rechartered a working group in the
IETF (OPES) with the explicit purpose of _standardizing_ mechanisms for
modifying SMTP messages in transit!
I would also invite people to consider the effects of digest mode lists, which
is the mode I and many others find more reasonable for reading much of the list
mail I receive, especially that from high volume lists I rarely post to.
Ned
P.S. The ability of these sorts of issues to derail IETF standardization
efforts is nothing short of amazing. These issues killed the LISTSERV working
group, caused major damage to USEFOR, slowed DRUMS way down, and were a factor
in keeping the OPES group in the "about to be chartered" for something like two
years. Don't for a minute think we're immune here. We aren't, and we're doing a
good job of proving it.