On Sat, 9 Nov 2002 12:45:35 EST Topaz877 <Topaz877@aol.com> wrote:
The problem isn't with mail delivery, it's with the archives. It goes without saying that Mailman can't do anything about how users configure their mail clients. But Mailman does control how the *archives* are displayed.
Should the archive display messages as they were sent, or should it attempt to "know best" and do what it thinks is right, over-riding the specifics in the messages? No matter which answer its easy to come up with dozens of cases where its wrong. Once past that there are concepts and questions of fidelity: Is your archive an accurate representation of list traffic? Is the fact that it is (or is not) accurate, significant?
Then there's the question and principle of least surprise: Which is more surprising, and archive which reformats or one which doesn't?
For me its critical that the archives are accurate, both as to formatting and content, and that fact is significant as the archives are (effectively) the one recorded "historical truth" as regards that list.
--
J C Lawrence
---------(*) Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw@kanga.nu He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/ Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.