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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!devon!paul
From: paul@devon.UUCP (Paul Sutcliffe Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: cancelling mail messages
Message-ID: <119@devon.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Nov-86 18:55:21 EST
Article-I.D.: devon.119
Posted: Tue Nov 25 18:55:21 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Nov-86 09:57:32 EST
References: <40@dcl-csvax.comp.lancs.ac.uk>
Organization: Devon Computer Services, Allentown, PA
Lines: 37
Summary: some thoughts

In article <40@dcl-csvax.comp.lancs.ac.uk>, stephen@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Stephen J. Muir) writes:
> I wonder how many of you have sent a mail message then wished you hadn't?  I
> would like to see a facility for cancelling messages, similar to the way it is
> done by the usenet software:
  [ example deleted ]
> If the target site had software to recognise the "Control" header, it could
> remove the original mail message from the user's mailbox (if it was still
> there), or from its mail queue if it had not been delivered, or from it's UUCP
> (or whatever) queue if it was being relayed, or whatever.
  [ ... ]
> Does anydody else like this idea?

Depends.  How soon after you have sent the mail will you decide that
you don't want it sent after all.  If the mail was sent to another
account on your system, and that user was logged on, s/he may have
read the message long before you issued the cancel command.  Also,
if your messsage was destined for a remote site, and your system talks
to that site frequently (hourly polls), the same problem occurs.  The
cancel command may arrive too late to do any good.

There are many variables playing here which would affect the usefulness
of such a command, mostly time related.  It is conceivable that your
message passes through several backbone sites within the time span
of an hour.  Of course, your cancel command would travel as fast,
but it would still be playing "catch up".  Much depends upon how
frequently the person receiving the message checks (and reads) his
mail, too.

Any other comments?

-Paul

-- 
Paul Sutcliffe, Jr.	 UUCP: {seismo,ihnp4,allegra,rutgers}!cbmvax!devon!paul
Devon Computer Services  COMPUSERVE: 76176,502
Allentown, Penna.
+1 215 398 3776 	 "What this country needs is a good 5-cent *nickel*."