From: John Stanley (stanley@peak.org)
Date: Mon Jan 15 2001 - 23:45:51 CST
Brad Templeton (brad@templetons.com):
>The replying function is part of
>the USENET system, even if the medium it calls upon is the independent
>e-mail system.
Nonsense. It is something added to the client but it is not specified
in the standard anywhere. It is no different than the "save" function
or "exit" function, which are not reasonably part of this standard.
The fact that it uses a completely different medium than news means it is
even less part of the news system than "save" is. "Save" could,
theoretically, send a site-specific command back to a news server to keep
the article from being expired. "Send email" must, by definition, use
email, and email ain't news.
And the fact that not a single news system breaks when a munged From:
header appears blows apart any claim that it is an interoperability
problem.
>My identity, as a poster, if I wish to use a pseudonym, is none of your
>business, as long as you can track spammers.
I agree. No more From: headers and no more talk about what they must
contain, then.
>Systems should be designed to protect the privacy of their users from the
>start, and that privacy should only be removed when there is a very
>compelling reason to do so, ...
May I quote you?