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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ulysses.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!ihnp4!ulysses!smb
From: smb@ulysses.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: Missing message bodies
Message-ID: <670@ulysses.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Oct-83 18:08:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: ulysses.670
Posted: Wed Oct 26 18:08:45 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Oct-83 02:12:43 EDT
References: <856@drux3.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 7

My guess is that someone accidentally started to reply to a news item,
or started to reply but then changed their minds.  The reply command
will kick you into an editor, then try to mail the remaining text body.
Since there's no graceful way to abort in that situation (though truncating
the file works), it becomes very easy to send a letter with a null body.
We can leave to another time a discussion of whether it's a bug or feature
that the mail module doesn't look for null bodies and abort the message.