Xref: utzoo news.admin:14516 news.software.b:7835 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!rutgers!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!mccall.com!tp From: tp@mccall.com (Terry Poot) Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b Subject: Re: Really funny jokes being missed Message-ID: <1991May20.143630@mccall.com> Date: 20 May 91 19:36:30 GMT References: <1991May16.151523.28123@zoo.toronto.edu> Reply-To: tp@mccall.com (Terry Poot) Organization: The McCall Pattern Co., Manhattan, KS, USA Lines: 46 In article , emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: >one problem, you get a new one. In this case, the tradeoff is between >passing old news (bad for everyone) vs. dropping malformed articles >(bad for a few individuals). Given some time, everyone who currently >has software that puts out mangled dates will be properly coercing >into fixing them, and the net as a whole will be more happy. I don't have a problem with the change. I have a problem with the shock treatment theory of getting people to fix old software (~drop their news on the floor, that'll get 'em to fix their software!~ [~ instead of " because it isn't a quote]. Why couldn't this have been phased in? Say have it log the error for a few months, so that people could be notified that they had software that needed fixing, THEN start dropping it on the floor. Also, many people have said that it could log these better. That should have been a big consideration, since SOMEONE has to tell sites that C news doesn't like their headers. BTW, the mail has already started rolling in. In response to a few points raised via email: It has been claimed that this was announced thoroughly in advance. If this is the case, I apologize for that complaint. However, I don't read articles that look like they are about C news, because I don't run it. I don't read articles about bogus headers, because my software works (you can't redefine something valid as now being bogus, and expect people to know this before they read the message). Given these considerations, if I did indeed miss something I shouldn't have, I apologize for complaining about it. I only read this thread because it has been going for a while, and I was curious. I figured it was probably about rec.humor. I was informed that most site admins didn't tell me C news was dropping my messages, because they didn't want to overburden me. Dear site admins, you are being WAY too conservative. I've only gotten 2 messages, both in just the last few days. There are probably lots of people out there not being informed at all that they have a problem. BTW, I don't need any more notifications. I've fixed my software. It was a 10 minute fix, and I'd have happily done it before C news was changed, had I known. I've sent it to the author, and one of the 2 of us will post the patches, probably by tomorrow morning. But please warn other people that have the problem. Don't assume someone else will. -- Terry Poot The McCall Pattern Company (uucp: ...!rutgers!ksuvax1!deimos!mccall!tp) 615 McCall Road (800)255-2762, in KS (913)776-4041 Manhattan, KS 66502, USA