> On Tue, 14 Jun 1994 15:41:34 +0100 David Nessl <[log in to unmask]> said:
> >So, please please allow MIME headers thru during SHORT HEADER processing
> >-- it won't make already confusing MIME messages significantly more
> >confusing to MIME-less recipients, and it is a lot more friendly to
> >MIME-capable recipients.
> It  will leave  the  MIME-less people  in  the cold  with  base64 and  QP
> messages,  and generate  extra junk  for the  majority of  MIME-generated
> messages  that simply  state the  MIME defaults  ("this is  a plain  text
> message, in ASCII").
 
Sigh. How is this different from what happens when I send a
MIME message with SHORT headers today? The MIME-less people still
get trash, but now the people who are MIME-clued *also* get
gibberish. Where's the advantage in that? Yes, I can always set
FULLHDR ON for myself and lists I control, but what about lists
that I don't control for various political and/or business
culture reasons?
 
We're talking 2-3 lines here. Most of the people with problematic
mail systems have already trained themselves to ignore all that
trash at the beginning of a note, don't look at the headers
anyway, and skip to the first blank line in the message -- "I
just press the button marked Reply and it does!"  (actual user
quote!). Some losing PC mailers hide *everything* before the
first line of data. In that case, just what does 2 or 3 more
lines to ignore mean?
 
Think of it in advertising terms, if that helps make a case for
you. You can advertise that LISTSERV is MIME-friendly. None of
the competitors make a point out of this, and most of them don't
even consider MIME-friendliness important. LISTSERV has an
excellent start toward being really MIME-smart, but making it a
little more MIME-friendly while you make it really MIME-smart is
a fairly cheap concession.