From: Henry Spencer (henry@spsystems.net)
Date: Wed Mar 05 2003 - 14:13:32 CST
On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Ken Murchison wrote:
> I don't see why should the rest of the messaging community should have
> to potentially rewrite software for a problem that is currently
> localized in a small part of Usenet.
They should do this because (a) the problem, localized though it is, is
not going to go away any time soon (*no matter what we decide*), and
(b) they assure us that their users want to be able to use their software
to read Usenet.
Are they willing to live in the real world, or not? If they are, they
*have* to deal with this; they cannot just close their eyes and hope it
will go away. It won't, *no matter what we do*.
> ...I get the impression from these threads that the usenet
> people want to do what's easiest for them, and then throw the shit over
> the fence for everybody else to deal with.
No, we are saying that some of the shit is already on your side of the
fence -- you opened the gate, and in it came -- and you are going to have
to start shoveling sooner or later. That being the case, we object to you
saying that we must solve this problem in such a way that you never have
to handle a shovel... because that's no longer possible.
You're standing in it up to your ankles, and still insisting that if we
only do our job properly, your shoes will never get dirty. We're trying
to figure out the best and fairest way to shovel the stuff, but a "no dirt
on my shoes" requirement is awkward, and it seems pointless when the tops
of your shoes aren't even visible any more, much less clean.
Henry Spencer
henry@spsystems.net