Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hpsemc!bd
From: bd@hpsemc.HP.COM (bob desinger)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.mh
Subject: Re: return receipt for email
Message-ID: <960004@hpsemc.HP.COM>
Date: 14 May 88 05:33:04 GMT
References: <72@hrsw2.UUCP>
Organization: HP Technology Access Center, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 27

> perhaps sending mail to remotesite!mysite!me as a cc
> to remotesite!you would be a good idea.

That usually works, but not always.  For example, suppose you send to
	neighbor!ihnp4!somewhere!far!away!remote!friend

and CC yourself as
	(path to remote)!away!far!somewhere!ihnp4!neighbor!home!me

The smart mailer on ihnp4 will look at the *end* of your CC line,
realize that it can get to "neighbor" quicker than the path you typed
on your CC line, and will send your CC back as

	neighbor!home!me

So you'll get the CC much quicker than your remote friend.  You'd
never know that it short-circuited the path unless you read the
mail headers quite scrupulously---and only if the headers were updated
at each system along the way.

In fairness to the original suggestion, though, the CC idea should
work unless you send it through one of these super-smart hubs.  In
fact, ihnp4 is the only system that I know of that does this short-
circuiting.  It does this because in most cases it actually can get
to the final destination quicker than by the path you've typed.

-- bd