Xref: utzoo news.admin:14748 news.software.b:8032 Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!lethe!druid!darcy From: darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) Subject: Re: Really funny jokes being missed Message-ID: <1991May29.221015.1865@druid.uucp> Organization: D'Arcy Cain Consulting, West Hill, Ontario References: <3752@ksr.com> <10623@castle.ed.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 29 May 91 22:10:15 GMT In article <10623@castle.ed.ac.uk> Paul D. Crowley writes: >The trouble is, no-one wants to look for ways around it, because they >feel it's _desirable_ behaviour, to "punish" the user for making a >mistake. I can't see why news is an exception to the general rule that >software is supposed to be _nice_ to the user, and not deliberately >spiteful. Various people don't seem interested in discussing >alternatives such as the "control" hack because they get a kick out of >the idea of spiteful software -- so long as it doesn't happen to them. It doesn't happen to them because they are running software that checks the message before sending it out to the cold hard world of Usenet connectivity. Of course the user should be coddled. No one that I have seen supports the notion of unfriendly user interfaces. The argument is that the software that interfaces with the user is the place where this stuff should be checked. If you are writing posting software you should check everything the user enters to make sure that it conforms to the relevant specifications. No one on the "CNEWS IS RIGHT" side suggests otherwise. It's the "CNEWS MUST BE WHINED AT AND DIE" group that thinks that the posting software can slough that stuff onto software running 6 or 7 hops away. That's like arguing that print spoolers should correct spelling because users make spelling mistakes. So, the $64K question: Who or what should take responsibility for the correctness of news headers? A) The novice poster that probably hasn't even heard of an RFC. B) The software that injects the message into the net. C) The software that transports the message around the world. CNews suggests that the right answer is B. It's detractors claim that C is right but they seem to argue that the only other alternative is A. So, does anyone want to admit that they believe that the right answer is A? If not can we at least agree that the choice is either B or C and admit that no one is suggesting that the user should be making the final determination on headers before the message enters the net? Now, can we at least all decide that the right choice is either B or C or is there anyone out there arguing that the user (apart from his/her choice of posting software) is not the right place to have headers -- D'Arcy J.M. Cain (darcy@druid) | D'Arcy Cain Consulting | There's no government Toronto, Ontario, Canada | like no government! +1 416 424 2871 |