On Tue, 14 Jun 1994, Eric Thomas wrote:
> The hard reality is that MIME is  just a slightly less drastic variant of
> BinHex,
 
Agreed.  SMTP should be 8-bit.  But its isn't.  We have MIME.  It's
here.  Saying you personally don't like MIME won't make it go away.
 
If a PROFS or All-In-One or RiceMail user gets a MIME message, he/she gets
a message with lots of confusing pseudo-headers in the body.  Allowing a
few MIME headers thru in the header section during SHORT HEADER processing
won't make the MIME message significantly more confusing than it already
is to a MIME-less recipient.  And moreover, it violates the principle of
least surprise: MIME-capable users are surprised when they can't by
default decode MIME messages processed by LISTSERV.  And even after they
turn on FULL HEADERS, they still can't decode the messages they've already
received.  Just because MIME-less users have to suffer doesn't mean
everyone has to suffer.
 
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.
 
Regards, -david