Tim Showalter <tjs(_at_)mirapoint(_dot_)com> writes:
We should add yet another header that can be properly standardized that
marks a message as automatically generated without consent of a human on
the other end. I think this solves that problem, and should probably be
written up as yet another spec so that we don't have non-Sieve solutions
dependant on Sieve's vacation extension.
Would this solve that problem?
I have come to the conclusion that this is a good idea, and came up
with the beginnings of a spec.
Is this worth taking further?
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The Automated Header
The "Automated" header indicates that the message came from an automated
agent. While the From/Return-Path addresses may specify mailboxes read by
real people, the message did not strictly come from them.
Vacation autoresponders and mailing list exploders that support this header do
not respond to messages containing this header.
Automated processes are encouraged to not generate this header, as
circumstances require.
User agents MUST NOT genertate this header (unless acting without the
knowledge of the user). Specifically, this header MUST NOT be used to declare
that users do not want automatic responses. A mechanism for declaring that
automatic responses are not necessary is outside the scope of this memo.
Example: Automated: type=vacation
"type" attribute
The type attribute declares the type of the autoresponse. Two types are
defined by this specification: vacation and mailing-list.
Vacation delcares that the message is a vacation-style autoresponse (text
specified by the sending user stating when the recipient can expect to see a
response).
Mailing-list specifies that the message was processed by a mailing list
exploder. The original sender (whoever is on the From line) has no knowledge
that he has sent a particular mailing list subscriber a message. The
Automated header indicates that the message was transmitted with the
assistance of such a mailing list agent, and it is unlikely that telling the
original sender that the mailing list subscriber is unavailible is helpful.