Subj : Re: Newbie question
To   : deon
From : Wilfred van Velzen
Date : Wed Nov 27 2024 16:25:03

Hi deon,

On 2024-11-27 21:07:32, you wrote to me:

 >> It doesn't say that! It says:
 >>
 >> "Although the Origin line is not required by all Echomail processors, it is
 >> added by the Conference Mail System to ensure complete compatibility."
 >>
 >> It is not very clear wording, but I read that as software that creates
 >> echomail messages should always add the origin line. But software that
 >> processes echomail, should be flexible when it is not present.

 de> I'm not going to 100% agree with you on this one.

 de> In FTS-0004, in the section about Origin lines (which is point 3), the wording
 de> as you have quoted "not required by all..." and "added... complete
 de> compatibility" indicates to me that it is not (absolutely) required, but
 de> rather useful if it is added.

I think that is putting it to weakly. And you leave out important parts of the sentence: "Echomail processors"...

Echomail composing software should always add an origin line. As is made clear in fsc-0074.

 de> Further, point 1 (Area Line), and point 4 (Seen-by Lines), explicitly
 de> states that these control fields are required. So if point 3 was
 de> required, I would expect it to explicitly state that too.

Your expectations are irrelevant, in such a poorly drafted document! ;-)

 de> Certainly I agree that FSC-0074 does make this clearer and states that
 de> they are required. It probably should have been promoted to a
 de> technical standard, but wasnt, for whatever reasons it never made it?

And that is probably unfortunately lost in history. But you are an ftsc member, so you can put this on the agenda!


Bye, Wilfred.

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