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Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!Firewall!uunet!mcsun!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!mantis!mathew
From: mathew@mantis.co.uk (Giving C News a *HUG*)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b
Subject: Re: Really funny jokes being missed
Message-ID: <o4FJ44w164w@mantis.co.uk>
Date: 14 Jun 91 15:41:23 GMT
References: <1991Jun1.233346.2016@rotag.mi.org>
Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.
Lines: 35

Wow.  Kevin Darcy's flaming me.  I *must* be right.

kevin@rotag.mi.org (Kevin Darcy) writes:
> Mathew: it is not the job of C News to de-louse every bad header it sees, nor
> to yak-yak to humans about the sad state of posting software. It's purpose is
> to transfer news to and from disks and networks as smoothly and efficiently a
> possible.

Right.  And for six months, it was failing to transfer news articles I posted.
Smoothly and efficiently don't even enter into it, it was simply failing in
its purpose.

> C NEWS IS A NEWS *TRANSPORT*, NOT A NEWS *SCHOOLMARM*!!

Right.  So why does it complain about errors that are unimportant?  So long as
it has enough information to deliver the article, why the hell does it
schoolmarm us with nit-picking about the header syntax?

> Given the obvious advantages and increasing popularity of C News over other 
> news transports, and the fact that it follows the RFC in this regard, I 
> consider it perfectly reasonable to expect sites with broken posting software
> to adapt to C News, rather than the other way around.

So do I.  However, I happen to take the rather sensible view that sites with
broken software are unlikely to spontaneously mutate into C News compliant
sites.  Some human intervention at the appropriate site will be required,
and hence someone at that site needs to be reliably informed about errors
detected by C News.  Hence C News has to have an error-reporting mechanism.

I think you ought to re-think whose side you're arguing for.


mathew