Don,

There are some inherent problems.  First, with LISTSERV, you might want to deal with that which you know best, your own software.  That would mean putting BB (begin banner) at the beginning of every banner, right after the ".BB" codes.  That would allow LISTSERV do deal with "it's own".  It would be nice to say that banners had to be prefaced with a code, but who's going to accept that?  Would you if you were Yahoo and your revenue stream dependent on the exposure of your advertising banners?

Looking at information from other systems is nearly impossible.  The MSN Network, for instance, doesn't even comply with RFC's regarding headers as is, never mind addressing additional standards having to do with the body of a message.

Even if you could designate "endtrans" as a necessary end, look at what my software in sending, or LISTSERV in receiving has to deal with:

        >endtrans

Angle brackets are the most common form of designation of quoted text in a text format email, but not in an HTML email or in customized software.  I can set my software parameters so that the block of quoted text below begins not with ">" but "GD>" or "GD--" or literally anything.  I can also have angle brackets at the *end* of the quoted text.  In short, software would encounter much difficulty looking for an "end of message code" in text.  Generally, the body of the message is "free format" for the user.  I've only touched upon the problems.

This is a social problem and technical solutions rarely remedy them.

Michael  McNeil


At 09:38 AM 6/19/01 -0500, Good, Donald wrote:
>
>Maybe we could start a grass roots effort and make a de facto standard.
>Remember in "Jumping Jack Flash", Woopie would end the bank transaction with
>"ENDTRANS"?  The first endtrans at the beginning of a line, on a line by
>itself might signal the end of meaningful message content.  Many mail
>programs have a signature feature and a user might put an endtrans as the
>last line.  A message without an endtrans might be rejected or redirected.
>
>Don
>endtrans