Path: utzoo!utstat!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!samsung!b-tech!zeeff
From: zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Time for 8 bit news, isn't it?????.
Message-ID: <==H&NB&@b-tech.uucp>
Date: 22 Jul 90 16:30:22 GMT
References: <3119.269d97ea@mccall.com> <777@hades.ausonics.oz.au> <15688@bfmny0.BFM.COM>
Organization: Branch Technology
Lines: 24

>>Why don't all you people divert your energies into making your news system
>>handle 8 bit news rather than developing new and incompatible ways of
>
>I have never thought, and do not think now, that transmitting binaries
>is an appropriate activity for Usenet... but a significant minority

Files that use all 8 bits are not necessarily binaries.  Other languages,
bitmaps, etc.  Even control characters get munged.

There definitely needs to be a more tranparent standard for the 
transmission of news articles.  Sites capable of transparently 
transmitting all 8 bit characters shouldn't have to pay the penalty of 
7 bit encoding.  

In the meantime, a standard encoding method (and a header to indicate its
use) would be useful.  Maybe the encoding method could address the "too big
for one article" problem too.

Keep the transport problems away from the users.

Maybe we do need checksums.  At least we could throw away munged articles.
Start doing that and I suspect that people would fix their software.
-- 
Jon Zeeff (NIC handle JZ)	 zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us