Re: 8-bit smtp and mail lists

[Nathaniel Borenstein <nsb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The mailing list problem is a thorny one.  As a point of information,
there are now several mailing lists in the world that are intended to
convey Andrew-format messages to those who can receive it, and text-only
versions of the same mail to those who don't use Andrew.  This was
accomplished by actually maintaining two mailing lists (the main list
address simply forwards to both), one of which converts the message to
text before sending it.  This isn't as automated as one would like, but
it turns out to be not terribly cumbersome,  (Instead of saying "add me
to the list" people are told to say "add be to the Andrew-format list"
or "add me to the plain text list", and the latter is the default)  and
requires no changes to the transport level.  Until 8-bit SMTP is widely
(universally?) phased in, a similar setup might be best for mailing
lists that include 8-bit text.